Lullaby of a Deserted Hell
by Lotus Butterfly
Summary: Dante was a lot of things: a gambler, a drinker, a lover, a fighter. But if there was one thing he was not, and never intended to be, it was the personal guard of a little kid. But how could he say no when those blue eyes were as haunted as his own?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hey guys, it's been forever, right? In all honesty, I've been crunching my textbooks hard the past three weeks solid. It hurt my brain. Severely. But the payoff is sweet. I still have the almighty finals coming up, but I'm totally prepared and ready to take those betches on. Also...just fyi...cause I figgered you guys would want to know...it's like...my birthday today. Yeah.

**Disclaimer: **Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings: **For this prologue, just mentions of violence and blood...and a rotten cliffy. You should all note that, while this is going to be a story with Dante and Nero, it is NOT going to be slash. Wtf? Yeah. I'm trying out something new for me. Bear with it.

**Dedications: **This is for all of those random lurkers who decided to send me fanmail over the course of my absence. It was incredibly weird to hear from people who've never reviewed, but cool at the same time. It's also for all you veterans who I'm sure have been pretty busy lately too, I love you all so much, I squeak my zombie rubber duck in gratitude.

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><p><strong>Prologue: Scream<strong>

The screams wouldn't stop. Curling up in the darkened corner under the bed, he peeked between his small fingers, daring to look out to the pale slice of moonlight that illuminated the wooden floor beyond the cover of his bed. Out beyond his hiding place were the screams. They just wouldn't stop, instead growing louder, coming closer. The instant one was cut off, another would begin.

He jumped when he heard the door splintering open. A shrill scream began, right there in the room with him, dying off into a wet gurgle as bright red splashed across the moonlit floor. He couldn't help a small gasp and quickly covered his mouth to stifle anymore sounds, wide eyes locked on the colorful stain not more than two or so feet from him. Holding his breath to remain undetected, he squeezed his eyes shut on the sight of the blood. He didn't want it to be there, didn't want to know who it came from…didn't want to see what had made it come out like that.

Then came the heavy breaths. Something was still in the room. He didn't know if the screams he was still hearing were actually real or if they were just burned into his mind and it kept replaying them. Something heavy shuffled closer to the bed and he could see its massive shadow blocking out the faint light from the window he knew was above his bed. His heart pounded so hard it hurt, lungs screaming for air as fear choked him, but he forced the panic down. He _had_ to stay quiet.

The monster in the room gave a snort as it crept closer to the bed. His chest tightened further when an almost human looking hand slid under the bed frame, elongated fingers that were darker than the shadows he was hiding in inching forward, reaching, searching; searching for him. Somehow, though he'd stayed quiet, it knew he was there and it wanted to do the same thing to him as it did to all those people who'd screamed.

As the hand came closer, he tucked his good arm behind him, palm pressed to the wall. He drew his knees up to his chest, squeezing himself into the corner as hard as he could, attempting to be as small as possible while ignoring the way his other arm dug into his chest and legs from the tight compaction.

The hand was coming closer, the arm stretching in such a way that it could reach him, sharp claws catching at the floor barely an inch from his bare toes and scraping through the wood that gave a small squeak in protest at being carved. The hand paused its searching before the arm vanished and the shadow seemed to disappear with it. He finally allowed a small breath to escape, taking in a short inhale to try and clear the faint, dizzy feeling he suddenly had. He was so relieved that the monster seemed to have passed him up that he eased out of his huddled position and slowly, cautiously, crawled away from the wall.

He'd barely started to move when the bed was suddenly flipped over and off of him, leaving him completely exposed. His head jerked up and wide blue eyes locked onto pair of burning red orbs and a flash of an unnaturally wide, shark-like smile.

No point in being quiet now.

He screamed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **I have no real excuse for why this is so freaking late. I have this story outlined and I've handwritten a few chapters already.

**Disclaimer: **Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings: **Very mild language and partial nudity. That's it for this one.

**Dedications: **I could list all of my readers' names, but instead I'll just say it's for YOU. And...for my cat Star. Because staring at her fat, rollie-pollie belly and noticing that one of her gray spots looks like freaking Pangea made me want to get off my butt and post this (for some reason).

_Sorry it's so short and a bit too fast-paced. It'll get better with the next chapter._

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: No<strong>

Sunlight filtered through the dusty window, spearing yellow-white beams across the messy bed. Under the rumpled sheets came a groan as the occupant rolled over and tried to block the light by burrowing under the pillow.

Movement ceased and it was silent once more….for about two seconds before an arm shot out from under the blankets, grip on the custom handgun sure, finger poised over the trigger and aimed in the direction where eyes were watching.

Dante slowly lifted his head from his pillow, eyes narrowed at the intrusion. He expected a demon, or worse, Lady, but instead he found his gaze focusing on the pale, wide-eyed face of a young boy of maybe six or seven. Dark blue eyes were staring straight at the gun pointed at his face, only appearing larger thanks to the dark hat pulled over his hair.

They both jumped and he sat up abruptly, still holding up his gun and gripping his pillow with his other hand.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing in—'' Dante barely got three words into that question before the boy turned and ran from the room with remarkable speed. Frowning, the devil hunter tossed back his blankets to give chase. He made it about two steps before realizing he was still naked. Growling, he snatched a pair of discarded pants lying on his floor and continued to give chase before the little intruder could get too far.

Up on the balcony of the staircase, he yanked on his pants and trotted down the stairs, eyes searching the ground floor as he went. Nothing but his pool table, the personal bar tucked in a corner, a couch, the sometimes broken tv, his jukebox, his desk, all the weapons, demon skulls and girl posters mounted on the walls.

Dante reached the bottom step and slowly lowered Ivory finally. He'd been sleeping with at least one gun lately. He felt it necessary since something just seemed off. Off enough to make his demon side paranoid. There was some kind of demon roaming the streets nearby, but until it came knocking, he'd have to put up with the incessant waiting.

After a thorough search of Devil May Cry, and finding nothing out of place, Dante sighed and went to his desk to put down Ivory. He could've sworn he saw a kid up in his room…but why the hell would there be a kid up there? Hell, even in his office? He must've not been fully awake…or maybe his paranoia was now getting strong enough to make him see things.

He figured he was satisfied with that conclusion and was debating heading back to bed to catch a few more hours when the front doors were kicked open. That could only mean one thing…

Sure enough, there stood Lady, the gun-toting, hard-headed demon huntress with a bad attitude and a penchant for torturing him and his wallet. And she wasn't alone either. Coming in right behind the brunette was Trish. The two were like a tag-team from Hell most days. Dante just sent them both a droll stare, intending to say something along the lines of 'whatever you're selling, I don't want', but then he noticed that there was a third person with them. His gaze locked on the same boy who'd been up in his room, looking a bit uncomfortable as he came in behind Trish. The kid almost seemed to be…hiding behind Trish's legs. Maybe 'hiding' wasn't the right word…those blue eyes were narrowed and glaring daggers at him, so maybe he was using the woman like a shield. In case Dante pulled his gun again.

Smart kid…because that's exactly what Dante wanted to do.

"You're the punk that snuck in here." He accused.

The boy shrugged and looked away as if disinterested.

"We need to talk." Lady broke in before Dante could speak again. "But first…zip up your pants. We're not enjoying the view." She said, turning her head away and holding up a hand a little above waist level to block the fact that his pants were still open.

He debated ignoring her, but instead yanked up the zipper, luckily without catching himself in the metal teeth before he leaned back against the edge of his desk. "What the hell do you want this time?" the usual question, but the answer he was about to get was one he never would've expected.

"You're going to be babysitting until further notice." Trish answered as she stepped aside from the boy, nudging him forward. The kid dragged his feet, but eventually stood in front of the two women, still glaring at Dante.

_Yeah, I don't like you either, punk…_

On closer inspection, the kid didn't look like much. He was short, kind of thin, his clothes were old and almost threadbare and he held his right arm with his left hand, gripping it tightly against his side.

"He's one of maybe three survivors from that attack on the orphanage across the city last night." Lady said simply. "We went there to kill a demon we were hunting, and we found it about to rip him apart. But when we attacked it, the damn thing just ran off like a coward and we have no idea where it went."

"So why do I have to take care of him?" Dante demanded, still not happy about being awake.

Trish flipped back her hair. "We've been tracking this demon for nearly six months, and it's been attacking orphanages and shelters. All of which this boy has been living in at the time of the attacks. All those times, he's been the only survivor somehow."

"I thought he was a demon too and almost shot him." Lady added, looking down at the boy and, amazingly enough, she smiled. "But he didn't try and defend himself or attack us. He came running because he knew we were the good guys."

"Helped a great deal that he was crying while he did." Trish said, laughing when the young boy grunted and turned his glare on her, though it seemed more like a pout now. Obviously he didn't care for his crying episode being public knowledge.

"Still haven't explained why _I_ have to take care of him." Dante muttered.

Trish and Lady looked at each other. Lady shrugged and Trish reached forward to yank off the black hat that had been pulled down tightly over the kid's head. The previously covered hair fluffed up in a halo around that small, scowling face and Dante got the third big surprise that morning.

The kid's hair was white.


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey- wait...this isn't right..._

**A/N:** Look I'm updating this story instead of Over and Over! Yay! Er...well, honestly I hadn't forgotten about this story and I still really wanted to finish it. However I've been putting all of my focus into Over and Over that I never got around to finishing this partial chapter and uploading it. I've been inspired for this particular story lately, so I figured I'd give it a little bit of attention before I go back to finishing my big project. Hope you all don't mind because it really doesn't matter either way, I'm still doing it, lol!

**Disclaimer:** Devil May Cry and it's characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings:** Mild OoCness, maybe a little bit of mild swearing...s'about it for now.

**Dedications:** To anyone who reads and reviews this!

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Decision<strong>

The room was dead silent as all three devil hunters stared at the young boy standing between them with an almost annoyed, but mostly petulant look on his face. The kid snatched his hat back and yanked it down over his hair as if self-conscious of having it show.

"That's why." Lady finally said in response to Dante's earlier question, breaking the stunned silence. "You maybe have something you want to tell us?" She asked; tone a mixture of amusement and accusation.

For a moment, Dante had no idea what she meant, too busy still gaping dumbly at the kid who was now gripping at his hat and holding it down against his head.

"Wha… What?" He amended as he caught onto Lady's insinuation. "No! You really think he's mine or something? Give me some credit, Lady. I'm not _that_ irresponsible."

Lady didn't look convinced, but Trish lightly rested a hand on the kid's tense shoulder. Her smile was the furthest thing from comforting, but for some reason the boy relaxed when he saw her flash of white teeth. "Look, Dante," the demoness began, "I'm inclined to believe you, this time, but only because this poor boy smells nothing like you."

"Gee, thanks." Dante muttered as he leaned back against his desk, arms crossing over his bare chest. "But that still doesn't explain why you're dumping him on me."

"I thought the situation spoke for itself." Trish said casually as she took her hand back and stepped around the brooding child, who took a hesitant step after her before leaning towards Lady. The blonde stopped right in front of the annoyed looking devil hunter and lightly flicked Dante's nose. "He's obviously some kind of mixed blood, like you. And he clearly is the target of this demon Lady and I have been chasing after. Who better to watch his back while we take care of this?"

"How about I go find and kill the demon, and you two can play mommy?" Dante offered. "Makes more sense that way."

Lady snorted at that suggestion. "Yeah, right. This is _my_ job Dante. The only reason Trish is helping is because whatever she was hunting turned out to be my target as well. You, however, aren't included and so, are not invited."

"Besides," Trish added before the brewing argument could break loose, "This demon wants this kid badly. It's been following him from town to town and anyone who takes him in ends up slaughtered. We figured," she gestured to a smug looking Lady and herself, "That if it does find him again, at least the only possible body left behind would be yours; less of a mess to clean up, less chance of panic."

Dante just stared at her, mouth turned down slightly at her teasing. "Thanks for that vote of confidence."

"At least, unlike all those poor humans that were shredded to pieces, you know how to handle a demon when it attacks," Lady pointed out as she shifted her weight and readjusted Kalina Ann's strap over her shoulder.

All good points, but Dante still wasn't going to just let them foist some strange child on him and walk away. The last thing he needed in his life right now was a kid. Especially a kid who was being ruthlessly hunted down by some crazed demon who, for all they knew, was being summoned by this boy. He'd been in the devil hunting business long enough to know that sometimes the most innocent of faces hid the most evil. And this kid didn't even look that innocent.

If anything, he actually looked…weary. The same kid that was still glaring in his direction, blue eyes spitting a fire that was probably the only reason he was still alive after all he'd apparently been through, had an aged air about him. He'd seen far too much in his young life. He knew what death was. He knew true evil; had stared it in the face.

Dante could, unfortunately, relate to that a bit too well.

Great, his stubborn refusal to take in the stray was weakening. All because he felt bad for the kid?

The two women seemed to see his cracking resolve and exchanged a victorious smirk.

"Looks like you've got a place to stay, kiddo." Lady said triumphantly, patting the small boy on the back. The latter of who wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of staying with the same man who had shoved a gun in his face.

But though the silver-haired man tried to argue, the two women who had crashed through the window of his room at the orphanage and saved him from the creature that wanted to eat him like it ate everyone else who ever helped him each patted him on his hat covered head and walked out the door.

"Perfect," Dante grumbled as he moved to sit behind his desk, sighing as he scratched at the back of his head. It looked like he wasn't getting much choice in the matter. He was stuck babysitting.

-o-o-o-

A shower and fully dressing didn't do much to improve Dante's mood, but at least the kid hadn't broken anything yet. Truthfully, he hadn't done much of anything. The kid didn't even sit down, instead choosing to stand where he'd been left, staring forlornly at the double doors that led outside. Dante figured he must miss the girls. He couldn't blame him, really. Getting saved by two babes and then left alone with a guy? Definitely a step down.

He supposed he should at least make sure the boy didn't end up dead on his watch, so he went to check on his leftover pizza. It was still good enough to eat, so he brought it out and set it down on his desk, sitting back down and whistling for the kid's attention.

The boy glanced over at him out of the corner of blue eyes, but didn't bother to turn his head. Not even when Dante held up a slice of leftover pizza and waved it in the air like some kind of lure to reel him in.

"Guess you're not hungry." The half-devil concluded as he ate the slice himself. Well, at least the kid was quiet. This unwanted job could be going a lot worse. "You're kind of driving me nuts standing there, though, kid, why don't you just sit down alre—'' Dante turned his attention over to where the kid had been standing as he spoke, only to break off midsentence as he realized the kid wasn't standing there anymore and one of the double doors was still swinging slowly shut.

"What the…hey!" Dante leapt to his feet and ran over to the door, shoving it back open and looking around the street. But the boy was nowhere to be seen. "Freaking wonderful. Hey kid! Get back here!" Dante shouted as he started running down the street.

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><p><strong>Uh oh, cliffhanger! Better review and find out what happens next!<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

_God I hate this chapter..._

**A/N:** Here I am updating again. I'm surprised how interested everyone still is in this story! It makes me feel better about focusing most of my attention on it for the time being. However you should all know that this story isn't outlined anymore. Whatever outline I had put together for it when I first put it up has vanished, so now I'm making it up as I go along until I can put together a new outline. This chapter in particular is more of a backround chapter on the little boy (who, if you haven't figured it out by now, is Nero). The timeline is kind of skewed and I admit that his internal monologue sounds rather mature for his assigned age, but I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I WAS REMARKABLY MATURE WHEN I WAS THAT AGE AND I MADE SURE THE WORLD KNEW IT! (actually, it's a common mindset of all kids this particular age I made him in this story. If you've never dealt with a child this age or don't remember your own childhood then you probably won't get it so I won't bother to explain).

**Disclaimer:** Devil May Cry and it's characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings:** None that I'm aware of.

**Dedications:** Everyone who reviewed; You're all awesome and I'm glad you're reading this! But most particularly I'd like to shout out to **bitbyboth **beause you have been really the only consistent updater in this current lull. Much loves to you!

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: Caught<strong>

Heart pounding viciously in his chest, Nero wished that his legs were longer as he ran as fast as he could down the grungy street. The slums didn't scare him as much as they should, but even a kid like him could have bigger problems than dealing with a homeless beggar or being mugged; like being hunted by a monster for instance. He kept running though his lungs were on fire. A part of him hoped that he wouldn't be followed, and another partially hoped that he would run into those two women again. They weren't exactly maternal figures, but that's what he liked about them. They had faced down the monster that had haunted him nearly all of his young life and didn't even bat an eye. They had even chased after it at first when it took off. Nero was still in awe over how the creature seemed afraid of _them_.

He took a turn down every street he passed, alternating left and right randomly out of instinct. As much as he'd like to hope, he'd never been much of a 'look on the bright side' personality. Whatever the worst that could happen was probably what you'd get on a good day in Nero's book. It might be a bit cynical of an outlook for a seven-and-a-half year old, but it had yet to fail him. Because the worst always happened to him, he wasn't going to happen by that Lady and Trish again; if ever. More likely he'd be caught by that jerk that put a gun to his face earlier.

Or worse, the thing that was after him. Daylight had failed to keep it away before.

A park came into view and Nero made a dash for it, using up the last of his energy in the headlong sprint through the scraggly trees that surrounded the concrete quad in half rotted planters and finally collapsing in front of a statue that was centered in the park. He would've opted for one of the benches, but was worried he would be too visible. The sunlight was dim as it tried to shine through the heavy smog and gray cloud cover, but it was still safer to stick to the shadow of the statue. At least until he caught his breath.

Nero sat and pulled his knees up under him, panting raggedly to regain lost oxygen. He hadn't had to run like that in a long time, but he was glad he still could. After running the first couple of times from that monster after him, he'd learned he could never fully outrun it and took to hiding as best he could. It usually couldn't find him, or would just kill everyone around him until their screams drove him out of his hiding place, just to get away from the wailing.

He sighed tiredly as his eyes drooped. He hadn't gotten any sleep the last couple of days, and he hadn't eaten since the morning before this one. His stomach grumbled and Nero wrapped his left arm around his middle tightly, hoping to staunch the sound lest it give him away to passerby. His right arm was itching like crazy, but he refused to take off the bandage that was wrapped tightly around it from fingertip to shoulder under his too large, threadbare shirt. He didn't remember his mother, she'd died when he was too young to recall her face, but what memory he did retain was of what he assumed was her voice, telling him to keep anyone from seeing his arm that had been wrapped since before he could remember.

The one time he'd gotten curious and pulled apart the last bandage, he'd been so terrified that he'd bundled it up and never dared to look at it again. Any doctors that the orphanages sent him to that tried to get a peek were quickly cowed by Nero screaming and thrashing until they let him go. He could fake with the best of them…though he really didn't have to pretend to be afraid of his arm. Or of the monster that was after him. The same monster that killed anyone and everyone who ever tried to help him or take him into their home.

Nero remembered when it had all started, after being adopted almost two years ago. He'd liked those people…they had convinced him there was no such thing as monsters even though he used to swear one killed his mom, had continual nightmares about it. After that he'd slept a full night for the first time in his life. But after a few weeks, he'd awoken in the middle of the night to the sound of their screams and found the monster there, the same one they convinced him didn't exist, in their room and tearing them to pieces. It had even smiled at him while doing so, as if it knew him and was punishing him for forgetting about it; for thinking he could get away.

Horrified, Nero had fled the house and back to the orphanage. Where he'd been questioned and there had been talk about him being put away, the blood all over his clothes suggesting he was the one who killed his adopted parents; after all, they all thought he was a strange, troubled boy. The adults decided he wasn't strong enough to…do that to them and he was instead sent to another shelter in a nearby city; the adults now fearing he was being stalked by a psychopath and seeking to hide him. From there he just continued to be sent from orphanage to shelter to the streets and back again. Sometimes he left because he was sent away when the monster came and nearly killed everyone or because he ran away on his own to try and save them. By now nearly everyone who had seen the monster except for him was dead. Those that were still alive probably didn't remember or were too young to be taken seriously.

But as much as his pride argued, as much as he didn't want people to be hurt because of him, Nero knew he couldn't completely take care of himself _and_ survive the creature hunting him. That reason alone was why he eventually ended up back in an orphanage or shelter. That same reason was why he had grudgingly listened to, and gone along with, Trish and Lady. They'd convinced him they knew the perfect place he could hide until they killed the monster for good. And he'd believed that they _could_ kill the monster after what he'd seen of them when they fought it off.

He should've known better than to get too hopeful. Of course, that dreamy thought of being taken in by one or both of those women and getting to stay in a comfortable house away from other people where he could relax for once and then never have to worry about the monster coming for him ever again was shattered once he got a look at that dirty office building buried in the slums, its garishly bright neon sign flickering even in the early morning. His dream was broken down even further when he got a close up and personal look at a loaded gun. Trish told him to stay put outside with her while the two women had argued about something, but he'd never been good at listening and he'd been curious if the place looked as bad on the inside as it did on the outside. A curiosity that had nearly gotten him shot and ultimately left with the same man who almost pulled the trigger.

The sound of footsteps and voices made Nero tense, breaking him out of his thoughts as he pressed his back against the cold stone of the statue, scooting over to carefully peek around the edge. He saw two people walk by on the other side of the park, their voices carrying. Neither of them were people he recognized and, more importantly, they weren't that Dante character he'd run from either.

It wasn't so much that Nero didn't like the man, although he didn't; at all. It was more a matter of his conscience. He didn't want even one more person dying just because he was staying under the same roof as them; even if that person was a big fat jerk. The only reason he hadn't run away sooner when Trish and Lady left him behind was mostly due to shock. He'd been unable to comprehend that his saviors would just leave him like that with hardly a goodbye. And then he'd had to decide where he wanted to go this time. The fact that he was sitting in a park was proof he hadn't thought that one through enough.

"Gotcha."

Nero tensed but didn't get a chance to even turn his head as remarkably strong arms swept him up off the ground with absolutely no effort. He glanced over his shoulder and recognized that very same person he'd been thinking of had indeed caught up to him and was now holding him tucked under one arm. Nero growled, kicked and swung his arms as best he could; struggling to break free and all to no avail.

"Put me down! Let go!"

"Oh, so it does speak. Amazing," Dante didn't sound particularly amazed to Nero, but then he figured that the old man was just making fun of him.

Baring his teeth, Nero twisted in the arm that was wrapped around his waist and tucked up under his chest, losing his hat as he grabbed hold of the red leather jacket's sleeve and biting down as hard as he could. The arm under the leather tensed before he was yanked away and instead tossed over a broad shoulder like a sack of flour.

"No biting." The man in red said, irritatingly pleasant considering Nero just bit him. Usually people left him alone when he did that!

So the boy went back to kicking and wiggling to get free, which kept him occupied the entire time he was carried straight back to the office he'd just run away from.

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><p><strong>Give me some love, readers and lurkers, so I may be inspired to write for you all once more!<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **I stayed home sick from work today...ugh, got a nasty headcold. My cat is ecstatic to spend all day with me. Anyways, here's a new chapter. It only took me so long to finish it because I couldn't figure out exactly what I wanted to have happen next. I sat and thought about it while developing this cold I have and finally came up with a series of events that are about to take place to really get this story moving. To clarify a few things: I am not using the DMC anime for inspiration. I have seen it, but it wasn't on my mind when I came up with this. I'm combining several facets of Devil May Cry that I know of to piece together the personalities for this, plus a lot of imagination that I don't have. And it's a lot harder to write Nero as a kid than I originally thought. Sure he's still rebellious and hotheaded and a tad violent here, but because I'm picturing him as a child, it feels weird to me, lol. Another thing I feel I should point out is that I'm using my own personal experiences with children, my own memories as a kid, and what's left of this school journal I found in my extra boxes I didn't bother to unpack when I moved in here from a Family Health and Child Development class I took my senior year of high school as reference.

**Disclaimer:** Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings: **OoCness. And er...mild violence? Mild violence that takes place in a bathroom?

**Dedications:** Toall of you who have reviewed and supported the comeback of this story!

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: Rules<strong>

Once he stepped through the doors, Dante went straight for the couch and dumped the flailing little body slung over his shoulder onto the worn cushions. The instant he was unrestrained, the boy tried to make another run for it, but Dante pushed down on the slim shoulders, forcing the kid to stay put though he clearly wasn't happy about that; and rather than be intimidated by the small show of force, the kid was back to glaring at him. If there was one thing the punk knew remarkably well, it was the impact of eye-contact.

"Alright, I think it's about time I laid down some ground rules." Dante said after a tense, quiet moment of staring. "Rule one: no more of that crap you just pulled. You stay inside, got it, kid?"

The boy just continued to glare at him and though he was small, Dante would beg to differ that the kid was helpless after that little tousle getting him back to the office. And that glare…man, if looks could kill…

"Rule two: don't touch any of my stuff." The devil hunter said seriously. "That includes pretty much everything under this roof. Unless I give you express permission, hands off. I don't need you breaking anything." He got plenty of his things broken by surprise visits from demons and sometimes one of the girls if they were in a rampage. That and he had some seriously destructive weapons lying around. "And rule three: preferably all the time, but especially in the event of an emergency, you do exactly what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it. Got that, kid?"

"My name isn't 'kid'! So stop calling me that!"

"And here I thought you'd forgotten how to speak again. Grand," Dante cupped his palm over the back of the kid's head and gave him a small shove as he walked away; ignoring the irate growl he got in response. "So what is your name anyway?" it was starting to occur to him that he knew next to nothing about this job that had been literally dumped on him.

"Why do you care?" the kid snapped back.

Dante frowned as he sat back down behind his desk, staring at the boy who was now scowling at him from across the room. "You don't like me much, do you, kid?"

"Don't call me that!"

"I'll take that as a yes." Dante leaned back in his chair, propping up his feet on the desk and just stared back at the punk who lifted his small chin in a show of defiance. "What's with the mega band aid, kid?" he asked at length, motioning towards the exposed gauze that was wrapped tightly around the boy's right hand and what was visible of his skinny arm under the long sleeve of his shirt. The bandages looked beyond needing to be changed, the material browned from dirt and age and practically fused to the kid's arm. Whoever had put it together had been meticulous though; wrapping it tight enough that it wouldn't unravel, maybe too tight, and took the time to wrap up each finger individually so the hand wasn't immobilized. But when he thought about it, Dante hadn't seen the kid use that right arm of his much; even when he'd been struggling against being carried back to the office. If it was paralyzed, why would he bother covering it up? Was it disfigured? Dante considered the possibility that he might have been hurt during one of the attacks on the orphanages that housed him, but the bandages said it was older than those more recent incidents.

Said child looked less angry and more uncomfortable at the mention of his arm. He self-consciously moved it behind his back so it wasn't in the line of Dante's scrutiny and looked away. "None of your business." He mumbled.

"Actually it is." Dante said easily as he folded his hands behind his head. "You're kind of my job until further notice, kid, so it's literally my business." Speaking of business, Lady had better be giving him a cut of the pay for this job.

"Why should I tell you anyway?" the kid huffed, "Are you gonna shoot me if I don't?"

"Is that what all the attitude is about? Jeez kid, you sure know how to hold a grudge." He couldn't help but grin as that glare was directed his way again from behind messy white hair. "I didn't shoot you."

"You were gonna!"

"Maybe. But I didn't. I could have shot first and asked questions later, kid."

The boy actually bared his teeth and growled out, "Nero."

"What was that, kid?" Dante asked as he cupped a hand behind his ear playfully, but his grin had lost most of its teasing edge. Now he was back to being wary. Just how much demon blood was in this kid? Again he was reminded how very little he knew about this boy; and about what was after him and why.

"Nero, okay! My name is Nero! Will you quit calling me a kid now?" The boy said with exasperation. He looked like he'd just lost a battle and resumed pouting as he stared down at the floor.

"Nero, huh?" Dante eyed the kid over as he scratched his chin, thinking over his options. He could always toss Holy Water on this Nero boy and see how he reacted to answer the now nagging question of how human he was; anything more than a half-devil would react negatively…but that seemed rather cruel. He had to remember that he was dealing with a child here; and not just a child, but a traumatized one. Whether Nero ended up having more demon than human in his blood didn't change that fact; but even if he was just a regular kid, Dante still faced a challenge.

He had absolutely no idea how to deal with one.

-o-o-o-

After that eventful morning, Dante tried fruitlessly a few more times to pry some information out of the kid. Nero was anything if not stubborn. The punk was the most tight-lipped person Dante had ever come across. Maybe that was a good sign, though. Most of the demons he ran into never shut up, so there was hope for the boy yet.

Once he figured out he wasn't going to get anything else out of the kid, Dante had spent the rest of the day behind his desk flipping through magazines and fighting off the urge to nap. He had to keep a constant eye on Nero who had already proved to be a flight risk. As much as he might dislike his new position as bodyguard, Dante would take it seriously. Nero was just a kid after all, and needed the protection until whatever was after him was dead. Besides, he could relate in the whole 'demons screwed up my childhood' department. Great, he was starting to feel sorry for the kid. Soon he'd be wanting to guard Nero because he _wanted_ to.

But other than occasionally picking at his bandaged arm and occasionally renewing that death glare, Nero didn't seem interested in doing anything, much less going anywhere.

At one point Dante made a comment on the boy's need to bathe. He smelled awful. Nero didn't seem moved by Dante's opinion and his rejection to clean up led to an interesting hour of Dante dragging the boy into the bathroom and trying to get him into the shower. When Nero vehemently refused, Dante decided to do it for him, but the instant he started to strip the kid down he was, for lack of a better term, mauled by a furious Nero. The two messed up the bathroom pretty good though Dante didn't really do anything but fend off his vicious little attacker, he didn't want to hurt the kid after all, before Nero shouted for Dante to get out and that he could clean himself. Dante obeyed, only to kick in the door almost twenty minutes later when Nero took too long and refused to come out. The misadventure ended with both of them wet, Nero partially clean though he adamantly refused to unwrap or even have his right arm touched, and Dante getting bit more times in that hour than he'd ever been throughout the course of his life.

Thankfully the battle had worn out what was left of the kid's energy, and after dressing back in the ill-fitting clothes he'd worn from the orphanage Nero had climbed onto the couch again and didn't even glance at the door, taking care of at least the worry of him running off.

As the next few hours ticked by painfully slow, Dante half hoped he would get a call for a side job; something in the city he could go and take care of but not be gone so long that the kid would get any funny ideas, but at the same time he knew it was best that he stay put. The three times the phone did ring throughout the day, however, weren't anything he was interested in; certainly nothing involving demons. Eventually he'd called for a fresh pizza, and he offered some to the kid again, but Nero was sustaining his claim that he wasn't hungry. That was fine with Dante; far be it from him to force a kid to eat, especially after what happened when he tried to force a kid to bathe…though Lady might get a bit mad if the brat starved while he was under the devil hunter's care.

"What, you don't like pizza?"

Nero just glared silently at him.

"Is there anything that you _do_ like?" He asked, but again got no answer.

It wasn't even dark yet when Dante started to notice the kid nodding off though. It wasn't even four in the afternoon, but Nero looked ready to fall over. His head would hang further and further down until he would jerk himself upright, as if afraid to fall asleep; but despite his best efforts, those blue eyes would droop again as his remaining energy flagged.

"Looks like you could use a nap, kid." Dante pointed out. He was more amused than concerned by the grumbling little growl he got in reply. Poor punk was too tired to even snap at him for suggesting a nap, wasn't that adorable? "Come on, I guess you can take over Trish's old room while you're here. A bed is better than that couch any day, even if it belonged to a girl."

Nero ignored the teasing and reluctantly slid off the couch and followed him up the stairs. He would honestly rather pass out on the couch with someone else in the room if he really couldn't stay awake anymore. Given any choice he would prefer to stay awake forever. It was always when he finally fell asleep that he heard the screams again. A kid could only repress so many memories, especially when the same thing kept happening over and over again. If the monster didn't come tearing into this place to find and eat him, then his own nightmares would torment him when he fell asleep.

At the top of the stairs, he grabbed at the red coat in front of him, tugging hard to get Dante's attention. Instead of stopping, the man pulled his coat free and said, "Rule four, kid: don't touch the coat."

He wanted to argue about being put to bed; it wasn't even night time yet. But Nero was so tired that instead of words, when he opened his mouth all that came out was a yawn. And though it was childish, he couldn't help rubbing at his eyes as they burned.

Dante led him the rest of the way down the hall to an empty room. It was dim in there, but at least it had a bed. Everything smelled stale and was a little dusty, but Nero wasn't going to complain. He supposed he could admit he needed at least an hour or two, just so he could be alert. And it wasn't night yet, so maybe he would be better off sleeping during the day anyways. Daytime hadn't always been safe; the monster had come out once before during the day, but that was only one time. He should be safe as long as it was daylight out, right? Besides, even a monster as evil as the one after him would stay away as long as he was with someone who was as big a jerk as Dante; that had to be why Lady and Trish left him here.

Nero stepped into the room tentatively, looking around at the bare walls and floor. No carpet, no pictures. It was hard to believe anyone had stayed here before him, but even just the thought of Trish being in this room at some point made him feel a little safer. That small fraction of relaxing was all he needed to climb up into the musty bed and curl up on his side. He didn't even bother with the blanket and Dante didn't seem like he was going to voluntarily tuck him in any time soon. It didn't matter though; the instant he laid down Nero found he was asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Short and to the point. Next chapter here. Read it and enjoy. Or don't if that's your thing. In which case, you need a better hobby.

**Disclaimer:** Devil May Cry and it's characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings: **Usual OoCness, an unoriginal demon design, and mild cursing.

**Dedications: **Uh...how about my cousin for letting me watch her baby girl nearly all day yesterday. We had an awesome time!

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: Nightmares<strong>

Nero shot up in bed, eyes wide. His wild gaze darted all around the night-darkened room, seeking out any strange shadows that might try to jump out and grab him. It was hard to tell since the room was completely foreign to him. Several minutes passed and he nearly hyperventilated before he remembered where he was. This strange room wasn't scary. It was the spare room in the new place he was staying in. Nero forced his breathing to slow, heart still pounding painfully hard in his chest.

Once he had calmed down a bit, he took another slow look around the room. His eyes had adjusted to the darker corners of the small room, and he could clearly see that they were empty. The only furniture was the bed he sat on and a small nightstand with a bare lamp perched on its narrow top. Trish supposedly stayed here once…but it was clear she took all of her belongings with her and left only the bones of the room behind.

He looked down at his lap and realized his hands were clenching the blankets he had slept on top of. Well, his left hand was clenching the material tightly; the fingers of his right hand were half curled but not closed all the way into a fist. The bandages were so tight that it kept him from using his arm or hand fully. But that was okay. It was a price he would pay to never have to see what it looked like again. Taking in a deep breath, Nero slowly eased his hands open. There was nothing to be afraid of. He was safe for now. And somewhere out there was Trish and Lady, the coolest people he knew; the monster was afraid of them and they were out there hunting it down.

Nero suddenly frowned at the closed door that led out into the hall. He swore he just heard something moving out there. Or he was just paranoid. He'd obviously had another nightmare judging by the way he'd woken up, so it could be his mind's lingering fear creating noises to mess with him.

Or the monster was out there.

Heart leaping up into his throat, Nero jumped off the bed and rushed over to the door. He stopped and pressed himself against the wall next to it, slowly easing it open just enough so he could take a quick peek. He had to be sure that everything was fine, that the hall was empty. He stuck his whole head out after a while and looked around, relaxing as he saw nothing but faded wood floors and the other door a bit closer to the stairs across the hall. Was Dante asleep? It had to be really late at night, so of course he was. Nero wasn't going to be such a big baby that he would go running to someone he didn't even like just because of a nightmare. Dante probably wouldn't care anyways. And there was nothing wrong, no intruder, so he should just go back to sleep. Nero admitted that he was still incredibly tired. Every time he got even a little bit of sleep, he ended up feeling more tired than before.

Nero sighed and turned to go back into his new room. He pulled the door closed behind him, but left it open a small crack before walking over to the bed. Climbing back up into it, he smacked at the flat pillow to try and fluff it up. It seemed he was going to get a relatively uninterrupted night of sleep for once. He couldn't help but be grateful for it.

He had just lay back down and closed his eyes when felt the mattress ripple under him. Nero's eyes shot open in time to look down and see the black, shadowy arms creep up from the sides of the bed and wrap tightly around him. He opened his mouth to scream, but a third hand came from nowhere and covered his parted lips. He struggled as hard as he could, but it got him nowhere. Panicked, Nero turned his head towards the door. Instead of the door, he found himself eye to eye with the monster. Those burning red eyes stared straight through him as the wide mouthed, shark-toothed smile spread over its black face. It knew it had finally caught him. And no one was going to come and save him this time…

-o-o-o-

Nero shot up in bed, eyes wide. His heart was pounding frantically in his chest and all he could hear was the echo of all the screams from the past as he panted raggedly. At first he wasn't sure what had happened. Last thing he knew he was being grabbed and held down by the monster; it had somehow found him and made it into his room—

He scrambled off the bed, getting tangled in the blankets that had been tucked around him. He rolled onto the floor hard and gasped as it knocked the breath out of him. Nero lay sprawled on the floor for a minute or two, staring up at the dark ceiling as he concentrated on just breathing. It had just been another nightmare? But it had felt so real…

Finally sitting up, Nero grabbed the mussed blanket that had been dragged onto the floor with him when he fell. He didn't remember falling asleep under the blanket earlier…he must have crawled under it in his sleep though the room wasn't all that cold. He got up to his feet and tossed the blanket back onto the bed, pausing for a moment before checking under the bed to be sure nothing was there. Satisfied, he started to straighten out the blanket, the familiar chore calming him, when the nearby window caught his eye. He hadn't really given it much notice before, but he could see the tall buildings in the distance, standing darker against the clouded over night sky. It was a big city; there was no way the monster could find him so soon after the last time. He was just being a baby.

Nero crawled back up into the bed and sighed, smoothing out the blanket to delay lying back down and falling asleep. He knew once he got settled under the blanket again, he would fall back asleep instantly, regardless of his most recent nightmare. His body was just too exhausted from so many sleepless nights in a row to resist.

He turned his attention back to the window, staring at what little he could see of the sky from the bed. There were a couple of run-down buildings around this one, but they were dark and quiet, just like the street. Everything was still and empty. He had nothing to be afraid of, yet a part of him was still terrified.

Twisting around, Nero propped up the pillow against the simple wood headboard and shifted his position to lean back against it. If he stayed upright, then he wouldn't be tempted to fall asleep. He pulled the blanket up to his chest and folded his hands over it to keep it in place. The window wasn't very entertaining, but it was at least something to look at besides the blank walls or staring obsessively at the cracked open door and becoming more paranoid that something would sneak in and grab him.

He wasn't sure how much time passed, but eventually his eyes started to close against his best efforts to keep them open. Nero finally gave in and let them close. He didn't like having nightmares, but it was better to wake up from having one than to wake up because the monster had come and was killing everyone to get to him. His head lolled a bit but he shot it back up when he heard something scratching at the window. Blue eyes locked on the glass. Something was out there and it wasn't his imagination this time. Nero gripped the blanket tight and held his breath. As he watched, a small spot on the window suddenly fogged, as if someone had breathed close to it. Heart picking up again, Nero couldn't look away even when the little spot slowly vanished.

He sat up slowly, reaching back to try and find a weapon. All he could come up with was his pillow. Not very useful; unless he could convince the monster that it was him, and then he could make a run for it while the pillow was shredded in his place. Swallowing hard, Nero pulled the pillow into his lap, gripping it hard as he eased his legs out from under the blanket. Something scratched at the wall outside, just under the window, making him freeze. With his heart racing so fast, it was hard to breathe quietly, but he struggled to keep all the noise he made to a minimum. Nero's goal was to get out of the bed and as close to the door as he could get before the monster got inside. That way when he had to run, there was nothing in his way to stop him.

Once his feet touched the wood floor, he tried not to get carried away and bolt. He had to be slow and quiet. He couldn't outrun the monster, he knew that. But if he was careful, he could sneak past it and find a good place to hide.

Nero only got two steps from the bed when he glanced back at the window and saw red eyes staring right back at him. His heart went completely still in his chest and he forgot all about being slow and quiet, dropping the pillow as he raced for the door; except he only got a couple more steps before he slipped to a stop, falling back on his butt. The monster wasn't outside the window anymore, it was right there in the room with him, blocking the door that was his only escape.

Mouth gaping open, Nero could only sit there and watch for a moment as it smiled that gruesome smile at him and started walking slowly closer. His brain finally kicked in and he scrambled up to his feet, backing up until he hit the wall. Trapped. He was trapped!

His eyes darted around, seeking an escape. He had to get out of the room and find a place to hide. As if it could read his mind, the monster stretched its long arms out to block him in further, its dark skin blending with the shadows. It was a tall, imposing figure. It was so tall that it had to stoop over to keep its head from touching the ceiling. Its legs and arms were thin but past experience had taught Nero that they were incredibly strong. Those sharp teeth flashed white in the dark room, stretching wide across its face as it came closer. Nero tucked himself into the corner and could only watch as it came at him. It dragged its steps, as if drawing out the moment, like it knew Nero was terrified and it wanted to keep him that way as long as it could; like it was savoring the moment.

Nero couldn't turn his head away or close his eyes, too scared to do more than curl up in the corner and watch and wait for the monster to cross the room. It reached one of its arms out towards him, the clawed fingers a mere foot or two away and Nero was convinced he was going to die this time. No escape, no place to hide, no one to come out of nowhere and save him…

That was when the door flew open behind the monster and he heard Dante shout at him to get down. Nero didn't hesitate, instead dropping to the floor and covered his head with his arms as the room was suddenly filled with thunder. Over the cracking booms he heard the monster shrieking, like it was angry or hurt; maybe both. He chanced a peek in time to watch the monster hold its own arms up to fend off the bullets that were flying at its head. It hissed at Dante who was blocking the doorway before it turned and leapt _through_ the wall and disappeared, solid one moment and intangible the next.

"Yeah, you better run you bastard! And while you're at it, take your scrawny ass back to Hell!"

Nero dropped his arms and stared at Dante. The man looked annoyed rather than afraid as he went over to the wall and slammed his arm into it. He was wearing only a pair of pants and his hair was a mess, like he'd just rolled out of bed; he held a gun in each hand, the barrels still smoking. Nero slowly got up to his feet and looked around, noticing all the holes that littered the bed and the wall above his head. Even if he hadn't ducked down, they were still high enough that he wouldn't have been in any danger.

"You alright, kid?"

He blinked as Dante's voice broke into buzzing in his ears. "Huh?"

"It didn't hurt you did it?" the concern in Dante's voice was the most surprising thing out of all of what had just happened to Nero.

"N-no." He finally answered honestly.

"Good. Come on, I'm not really in the mood to sleep after that and I doubt you are either." Dante tucked the guns into the waistband of his pants and went to the door. He paused to glance back at Nero and held out his hand expectantly. "Well? You coming or do you want to stay up here by yourself?"

Nero shook his head viciously and rushed over to clutch at the offered hand as Dante led them out of the room.

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><p><strong>REVIEW<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

_Uunnngh..._

**A/N:** Holy crap, I can't believe it's almost 12:20 a.m. in the middle of the week and I'm still awake. I haven't pulled an all-nighter when I have somehwere to be in the morning since high school. I also can't friggin' believe that this chapter is 2,686 words BEFORE the author notes I always add. Fffff, that may not seem like a lot to some authors, but for me it's a miracle. Hell, all of the past few chapters I've uploaded for this story are a miracle simply because they all break 2,100 words without notes at the top and bottom. I'm also going to apologize for the terrible clashes in this chapter. At first I was all jazzed up but now I'm drooling on my keyboard and I think that decline is visible in how this chapter played out. Or maybe I'm the only one who sees it because I'm a terrible perfectionist when it comes to flow. In which case, disregard this entire note.

**Disclaimer: **Devil May Cry and it's characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings: **OoCness, bad flow, filler chapter ahead. The plot will start moving at some point I promise.

**Dedications: **awesome authors like **Blood of Dusk** who inspires me to keep writing, even when I'm feeling down on myself. And _Midnight Syndicate_ for their song _Haunted Nursery_ for giving me the mental picture of a peacefully sleeping little Nero that made me add the last scene in this chapter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 6: Insomnia<strong>

"Lady could have at least told me what she was hunting while she was here. A little warning would have been nice." Dante grumbled from where he was sitting behind his desk, still shirtless, as he rubbed his eyes tiredly with a hand. After that rumble up in the kid's room, he was too wired to get back to sleep. Not that he had been sleeping that well before the demon got in. For weeks he'd had trouble sleeping, due to his devil half being restless. Now he knew why. Even if that demon hadn't broken into his place, just the fact that something that powerful was in the city would be enough to put him on high alert.

He rested his chin in his palm and turned his eyes over to where Nero was standing as close to his chair as possible without actually climbing into his lap, still clutching Dante's hand like a lifeline and silent as a grave. The kid was pale and shaking, but he wasn't dissolving into tears like one would expect. Dante almost wished Nero _would_ cry or scream. Even when he'd been cornered by that demon upstairs, the boy hadn't made a sound.

"Hey, relax already, kid." Dante said, getting Nero to turn wide blue eyes on him. "It's gone for now and I doubt it's going to come back just so I can shoot it full of holes again." He actually hoped that the demon stayed away. He had surprised it, but Ebony and Ivory had done little if any damage to that thing. If it hadn't chosen run away, Dante was convinced it would have just gotten angry and tried to tear out his throat. "Told you I was a good shot, didn't I?" He forced out a smirk, attempting to lighten the mood. When Nero just stared at him, he sighed and got to his feet. Though he already had a death grip on Dante's hand, Nero wrapped his bandaged arm around the older man's forearm as the boy's shorter legs trotted to keep up with Dante's longer stride that led them into the kitchen.

Nero watched as Dante dug around for a suitable cup with his free hand and filled it with water from the tap. He was a bit surprised when the silver-haired man offered it down to him; but then he was still trying to process the fact that the same person who had pointed a gun at his face just that morning and called him annoying had just fought off the monster and saved him. Nero didn't want to let go of Dante's arm, but forced himself to loosen his hold and after another hesitant moment released it completely in favor of taking the cup with both hands. The water tasted like metal, but it was cool and it helped him to stop shaking and cured his dry mouth.

"Thanks," Nero said quietly as he stared down into the bottom of the now empty cup.

"Well it's about time I started to get some gratitude."

Jerking his head up, Nero glared at Dante's taunting grin and realized that the man was just messing with him again. Irritated, he turned his face away with a huff. The dismissive move made Dante laugh outright and hearing such a light-hearted sound after something so tense and terrifying made the last of Nero's fear and worry melt away and he had to fight back his own smile. Okay, so maybe Dante wasn't all bad. He was still a jerk, but he fought off the monster with barely any effort at all and he didn't seem bothered with the thought of having to do it again in the future.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Nero felt compelled to ask.

Dante was taken aback at the question. He hadn't expected the kid to voluntarily start a conversation with him. "Why wouldn't I be? Other than the fact that you're, you know, annoying."

The grunt he got from Nero at his comment was probably one of the cutest things Dante had ever heard. The kid thought he was so tough and when he acted all serious like that it only made it harder not to attach the word 'adorable' to him.

"I mean…'cause you don't like me. Why are you nice to someone you don't like?" Nero didn't understand that.

"I never said I didn't like you, I said you were annoying; big difference there, kid." Dante replied easily, grinning again at the way Nero's brows lowered into that glare that was becoming all too familiar at being called a kid again. "You're the one who is throwing around the I-don't-like-you card."

Dante watched as Nero went from being too pale to an interesting shade of red. It was hard to tell if the kid was feeling ashamed or angry and judging by the conflicted look on his face, the younger of the two wasn't sure either.

Deciding to spare him – this time – Dante dared to ruffle the mop of messy white hair on Nero's head before he took the empty cup and set it on the counter to be forgotten about for who knew how long. He chuckled to himself as he turned to head back to the other room. Now that Nero wasn't nearly catatonic, he had to figure out what he was going to do with the rest of the night. Of course, he would constantly be on alert just in case the demon had the balls to come back and try for round two.

He was walking a wide circle around the room and trying to think of something to do when he heard a second set of footsteps behind him. Pretending to just be stretching his arms up above his head, Dante glanced over his shoulder and saw Nero following right on his heels. Maybe the kid was still stuck in 'scared and not wanting to be left alone' mode, but the devil hunter was still amused to see he was being tailed.

"You got any ideas on how to spend the rest of the night, kid?" he asked. His voice seemed to surprise Nero and the kid immediately stopped following right behind him when he realized Dante had noticed him.

"…you're not gonna make me go back to bed?"

"Hell no," Dante snorted. "I'm too wired to stay still myself, and I wasn't in the room with that demon half as long as you were."

Nero tilted his head at that strange response. Most of his memories that weren't of the monster and its victims were of living in orphanages and shelters where the adults were strict about bedtimes and rules. He had assumed Dante was just like them when he started going off about his rules earlier in the day and then dragging him upstairs to bed. It seemed he was wrong about his new guardian yet again. He was starting to get irritated with how hard it was to figure this peculiar adult out.

"…can we play a game?" Nero finally asked.

Dante eyed him with a barely restrained smile as he said, "That depends…what game did you have in mind? I don't do hide and seek. And I think you're a little short for my pool table."

Was that what that green table with the holes on the sides of it was? Nero had heard of but never seen one before and he'd been curious about what it was for. Apparently it was a game of some kind. He looked over at the pool table and decided, however grudgingly, that Dante was right. It looked interesting, but if playing the game meant you had to be level with the table-top, Nero was too short to comfortably reach without standing on something. He had discovered a whole new reason to be bothered by his small stature. He was nearly eight years old, but he wasn't as big as other boys the same age as him.

Nero scowled and looked up at Dante sullenly. "Well, then what do _you_ wanna do that's such a better idea?" He challenged.

"Honestly?" Dante pointed at Nero's right arm. "I want to see what's under those bandages."

Instinctively, Nero gripped at his right arm tightly and turned so his left side was facing Dante. "No." he said without hesitation.

"Oh come on," Dante crossed his arms as he tried to think of a way to convince the kid to trust him enough to let him see what was doing under all that gauze. "How about you just tell me what's up with your arm?"

"Why should I?"

Good question. "Maybe because I saved your life; that fair enough?" Probably not the best answer, Dante decided when he saw Nero close off and turn away from him to go crawl onto the couch where he had sat nearly all day. Why were children so damn complicated? Dante was tempted to yank out his hair at how stubborn Nero was proving to be. Though in all fairness, the kid had no reason to trust him and the subject of his arm was apparently a big deal.

Maybe somewhere in the dark wariness of Nero's eyes was some small light he'd seen after he came to the rescue; it wasn't trust but it was a start. If he was going to be the kid's guardian for however long it took to kill that demon, Dante figured he could at least go a little more out of his way to encourage that trust to grow.

Which led him to walk over to the couch and drop down right next to where Nero was sitting; Dante chose to ignore how the kid scooted away from him a bit as he leaned back in the worn, sagging cushions and pointed across the room at the weapons mounted on the wall.

"You see those, kid?" Nero didn't answer him, but Dante knew he had the boy's attention. "Every one of those weapons is special. You know what they do?" he paused to give the kid a chance to respond, but he still didn't so Dante continued, "They kill demons. Monsters like the one that's after you. That's what I do for a living. I hunt down monsters and I get rid of them for good." He figured he could save the 'and you and I are the same because we're both partially monsters like them, but I'm a good guy I swear' talk for later.

Nero finally turned his body just the slightest bit so he was facing more towards Dante than away. "Like Trish and Lady?" he said cautiously.

"Same profession, different styles; and I just thought of a great way to pass the time. Go ahead and point at any one of them and I'll tell you the story of how I got it."

-o-o-o-

It was minutes to dawn when Nero's adrenaline finally wore off and he gave up the fight against sleep, yawning every two minutes. He had enjoyed listening to Dante's stories, sitting rapt through each one even though most of them sounded made up. Dante swore up and down that they were all true and Nero wanted to believe that. If they were really the truth, then Dante was the coolest person ever. Cooler even than Trish and Lady, and Nero hadn't thought that was possible after he watched them crash through the window of the orphanage and start shooting up the monster right before it could grab him; a feat that Dante had imitated within moments after waking up and rolling out of bed.

Dante noticed his increased yawning and nudged at him, reminding Nero that he had slowly scooted closer to the man through the hours and was currently leaning against him. He didn't want to move, but his pride made him sit up. He yawned yet again as Dante stood up from the couch. Nero quickly got to his feet as well though he swayed a bit before getting his balance.

Neither of them said anything as Dante held out his hand and Nero took it without a thought, letting the older man lead him to the desk where he retrieved his guns and then up the stairs. He didn't want to go back into that room where the monster had found him and tried to vocalize that message with his eyes as he looked up at Dante.

Finding himself with no choice when faced with that imploring look, Dante sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh fine, you can stay in my room, but only this one time. And you better stay on your side of the bed." He was too tired to be territorial, and he wasn't so much of a bastard that he would make Nero sleep on the couch when they both could use some real rest, in a real bed. And if he were honest with himself, Dante didn't want the tired boy sleeping in another room after what happened earlier.

Nero visibly perked up at those words and followed Dante into the elder's bedroom. It was a mess but Nero liked it that way. This room looked lived in. It was furnished and well-used and felt comfortable. He let go of Dante's hand and went over to the messy bed, where he had to climb up onto the mattress that was higher off the ground than the bed in the spare room.

Dante laughed in spite of himself and chose not to help the kid as he left the door open and walked around the end of the bed to the other side. He set Ebony within easy reach on the bedside table and tucked Ivory under his pillow before rolling into bed. He stretched out on his back and folded his hands behind his head as Nero curled up close to the far edge.

After a long moment in silence, Nero confessed, "I don't wanna sleep."

"It's not going to come back, Nero." Dante sighed. "And if it does, I'll shoot it in the face until it goes away."

"….promise?"

"Oh yeah, you have my word on that one. Now go to sleep."

"But what if you fall asleep and don't hear it come in?" he asked anxiously.

Dante exhaled an impatient breath. "Just trust me, okay? If it comes back, I'll know."

Nero decided to accept that and tried to settle down; his exhaustion winning over his caution. He got so comfortable in fact that as he began to doze, he rolled over so he was pressed into Dante's warm side. The comforting contact that reminded him that he wasn't alone lasted only a second before Nero felt himself pushed back over to the far side of the bed.

"Rule five: stay on your side of the bed." Dante mumbled as he rolled onto his side, his back facing the frowning child.

Huffing, Nero snuggled back down into the mattress, the blanket pulled up over his shoulder as he let his eyes fall closed again. He began to doze once more, but couldn't quite fall asleep completely. He shifted around some more, but Dante didn't complain about the jostling. In fact, Nero was pretty sure the man was already asleep himself.

He sat up and looked around the room, as if worried someone would see what he was about to do before he started to slowly inch his way closer to the middle of the bed. Once he got there and Dante didn't wake up and push him back, he grew more confident and dared to scoot a little bit closer, able to feel the ambient heat from the other body. Finally, Nero managed to settle himself against Dante's back. His eyes immediately fluttered closed and he started to fall asleep just like that.

At least until he felt a hand that smoothly slid him back over to his designated side.

"Nice try, kid." But the amusement in Dante's sleepy tone only made Nero smile a little as he resigned himself to staying where he was and eventually managed to fall asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

_Pff..._

**A/N:** That's it. I give up. I. GIVE. UP. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW CHAPTER? YOU WIN!

No, but seriously, I'm done fighting with this chapter. I had the opening part in my head back when I finished up the previous chapter, but the rest of it...I had NO idea what I wanted to happen. So I picked one of the many different ideas I have for this story and just went with it. It doesn't flow the way I'd like it to, and all my attempts to change that only confused me. So I'm throwing in the towel. This chapter has defeated me. It decided how it wanted to be written and refused to be changed. I have to just hope that to a third-party, it isn't as bad as I think it is.

**Disclaimer: **Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings: **OoCness, bad flow (again), some cursing and brief mentions of alcohol use. Also there's a double negative in this chapter that I put in there purposefully, but it still bothers me to see it. Oh, and there's a cliffhanger too.

**Dedications: **To all the readers who don't mind that this chapter developed a consciousness and wrote itself to be weird.

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: Revealed<strong>

Waking up was not one of Dante's favorite activities; especially not when paired with getting only a handful of hours of actual sleep since the previous night was filled with fighting off an intruding demon, entertaining a child, and then spending most of the early morning fending off his new cuddle-prone bedmate; however, the day had decided to clear up and the blue sky was giving open permission to the sun to beam its irritatingly bright rays directly into his bedroom, effectively eliminating any further attempts to try and stay unconscious.

Dante finally gave in and rolled out of bed. He tiredly straightened his sleep-rumpled pants and started digging for a shirt he was sure was hidden somewhere in the piles of discarded clothing that littered his floor, when a low little growl sounded from behind him. Instinctively, Dante swiped Ebony up off the bedside table and turned to point at the source of the sound. He quickly lifted the barrel to point towards the ceiling when he realized it was just Nero. The half-devil was suddenly grateful that the kid was so exhausted – as demonstrated by his ability to sleep through the bright sun and Dante's tired grumbling – otherwise he would have been caught pointing a gun at Nero for a second time in as many days. He was such a great caretaker…

Sighing, he set Ebony back down and finally found a shirt. He finished dressing and then sat on the edge of the bed to pull back on his boots he must have kicked off in his sleep, curiously glancing over at the sleeping boy while he did. Nero was still sound asleep, curled up on his side and nearly buried beneath the blankets. Dante had to admit, when he wasn't awake and being annoying, glaring at him or worse, biting him, the kid was actually pretty cute. Just the way he looked when he slept was a perfect example. Thick, surprisingly dark eyelashes formed little crescent shaped shadows on pale, round cheeks as closed eyes fluttered, no doubt from a dream; probably a bad one considering the growl which, while a bit off-putting, was cute in and of itself. As if a growl that little could really intimidate anybody.

He dropped his now boot-covered foot back to the floor and stood, walking around the bed and pausing long enough to tuck the covers in loosely around the small body before ruffling messy white hair. Dante chose not to think about his own actions, or try to find any reason behind them. It was easier that way. But the contented purr that came from Nero was enough to stop Dante in his tracks to the door. It was going to be nearly impossible to keep his distance from the kid if he kept up that kind of crap.

Especially since that response was one more attribute working against the boy by labeling him as inhuman.

Dante quickly made himself leave the room before he could convince himself to get attached. He was already identifying himself with Nero. The two had similar tragedies in their past and eventually the kid would have to deal with his own devil blood, just like Dante had to even though he'd fought against doing so for most of his young life. Even if the demon currently after him was taken care of, there was a good chance Nero would continue to be hunted just like Dante was; which meant there was going to be no happily ever after for the kid. As much as it suited him, Dante admitted that it wasn't much of a life. Always being on alert for the next enemy that would try to tear out your throat while your guard was down wasn't exactly the definition of ideal and hardly a decent future for an orphan. And all of that was only if Nero didn't go dark-side and start hurting people when he got older.

He had gone downstairs with the intent to find a distraction, but all he found was more silence that allowed him to think; mostly about his own childhood. So Dante admitted defeat and went over to kick his jukebox to start it up and stopped by his bar to grab a bottle to take with him to his desk.

-o-o-o-

He wasn't entirely sure what had woken him. Maybe nothing had, but Nero was so used to being awoken by something going wrong that he automatically attributed an interrupted sleep with an attack or a horrible nightmare. Neither of those had been what brought him back to consciousness this time. For once, Nero found that he was awake simply because he was done sleeping. It was strange; he had always assumed he'd missed out on so much sleep that if he ever did manage to get the chance to do it without something ruining it, he would never wake up. Or at least sleep for a week straight. But other than his head being foggy and his eyes refusing to open completely at first, he felt well-rested; which was another oddity to him.

Nero made himself sit up and stared down blankly at the covers that pooled in his lap. It took him a few minutes and a lot of eye rubbing to finish waking up, but once he did, he noticed that he was alone in the bright, sunlit room. As he took in the mess, Nero decided that Dante's bedroom looked better in the dark. Did no one ever teach him to clean up his room when he was a kid?

Frowning, the boy crawled over to the edge of the bed and slid down carefully until his feet hit the floor. Having a decent amount of sleep without a nightmare that he could remember, Nero felt like he had a lot more energy; energy that he decided to use to go to the bathroom. He remembered it being downstairs and left Dante's room to head for the staircase. He was halfway down when he became aware that some kind of rock song was playing from the ground floor; he stopped with his foot hovering over the next step when Dante's voice suddenly broke through the moody guitar solo and greeted him.

"Well hello Sleeping Beauty. Nice to see you joining the rest of the world."

Nero looked over to see the older man sitting behind his desk, feet propped up and an almost empty glass bottle next to where said feet rested. He was wearing that wide grin that made Nero feel like he was about to be the victim of a practical joke. Wary, the boy finished coming down the stairs and kept Dante in his sights the entire time it took him to cross the room and head for the door behind where Dante sat to get to the bathroom. He lost his nerve and ran the last couple of steps, shutting the door quickly though on the other side he could hear the man laughing at him.

He finished his business and peeked back out from behind the door. Dante was no longer sitting in his chair, instead leaning against the edge of his desk and facing towards the bathroom, as if he'd been waiting for Nero to come back out. Embarrassed, the boy ducked out and stared down at his own feet as he walked back across the room. He'd hoped to make it to the couch, but of course he wasn't so lucky. Nero found himself forced to a stop as Dante stood up straight and reached out to grab the back of his shirt collar. He tensed but just barely stifled the urge he had to turn around and bite the restraining hand.

"Don't be all shy just because you had to take a piss, kid." Dante said with another chuckle as he tugged a reluctant Nero over.

"I'm not," Nero mumbled, picking at the bandages on his arm when he was released. He deemed them necessary, but sometimes his skin burned and itched so badly that he wished he could take them off; if only so he could scratch away the irritating prickly sensation.

Dante opened his mouth to let fly another comment when he noticed Nero fidgeting around with his gauze covered arm. For some reason, seeing it reminded him of all the mystery and burning curiosity as to what lay beneath and that was apparently enough to kill the decent buzz he'd had going. "Hey," he began, pointing at Nero's arm when the kid looked up at him. "Why don't you let me at least change those bandages? I bet I could wrap it better so you could actually use your arm, too." He offered. When Nero just continued to stare up at him, eyes narrowed and guarded, he added, "I promise I won't look."

"You can't not look at it when you have to wrap it up." Nero countered.

What a little smartass. "You're pretty sharp for a midget." Dante replied as he leaned back against his desk again and crossed his arms, watching in amusement as the kid's face flushed a light shade of red.

"I'm not a midget!" he said indignantly.

"Oh I'm sorry, do you prefer the term 'little person'?"

"No!"

"So you'd rather be called a midget?"

"N-no! Stop saying that!" Nero stuttered, that cute glare returning.

Dante grinned at the dark look. "What else should I call you, shortie?"

"At least I'm not a big, stupid jerk." The boy tried to argue.

"Wow, did that hurt your little head to come up with?" Dante taunted, enjoying watching the kid get worked up, aware he was deliberately antagonizing the kid for his own benefit; but though he did it all in good fun, he found himself feeling like a giant bastard when Nero's glare turned into a look that seemed less angry and more…disappointed? Betrayed? Sad? "Come on, kid, I'm just teasing you." He found himself explaining gently to try and make that hurt look go away.

The look disappeared as if it had never been and the kid actually smirked at him, at first hesitant and then more confidently. "Ha! You fell for it. Adults always fall for it."

Dante just barely kept himself from gaping at the smug child standing before him. He'd just been played? In that moment he had a feeling that no matter how hard he tried, there was just no way he was going to be able to keep himself from getting attached to the little punk.

"Oh, you'd better run for it." Dante warned after a length of stunned silence.

Nero frowned at that and took a small step back, asking cautiously, "Why?"

Dante decided to show the kid what a real smirk looked like and replied, "Because if I catch you, you're gonna pay for that."

It took Nero a minute after Dante started chasing him that it was meant to be playful and not an actual threat. After he realized it was a game, Nero found that it was kind of fun to run around the room avoiding capture. Especially since Dante didn't seem to care if he climbed over the furniture so long as he didn't break anything.

Though, because they were limited to the interior of the building, Nero found there weren't many places he could run and even less where he could hide. He made a quick decision to run up the stairs, but only made it up a few before Dante grabbed him by the shirt again and lifted him effortlessly off the ground. At first he was too stunned at finding himself hanging in the air to react, but once he realized he'd just been caught and lost the game, Nero started wiggling to get free.

"Ah ah," Dante said brightly as he carried the resisting boy towards the bathroom. "I said if I caught you, you'd pay for tricking me. And since I caught you, I decided that I get to change your arm bandages as payment."

"No!" Nero shouted, fighting harder as all playfulness drained out of him and he was swamped with fear and frustration. If Dante saw his arm…he didn't even want to think about what would happen. Especially since the older man was only just starting to be nice to him. Dante was supposed to be a man who hunted down and killed monsters, so what if he saw Nero's arm and decided _he_ was a monster? What was Nero supposed to do then?

"Calm down, kid. It's not the end of the world." Dante frowned when Nero ignored him and kept flailing. He stopped just inside the bathroom and adjusted his grip to hold Nero upright in his arms, trying to calm the boy down. "Look, if you're worried I might think it looks ugly, let me tell you, I've seen some pretty wicked shit in my life. I doubt your arm could top my list."

Nero chose to respond by kicking him in the stomach, then biting into his shoulder; and hard, too.

"Ow, hey!" He snapped and yanked Nero back, sitting him on the narrow edge of the sink. "Knock it off, what did I say about no more biting? If you're going to act like a child, then I'll treat you like one. Either way, I'm still changing those bandages, so fight all you want. Just know it's not going to be worth it."

The boy hung his head and sulked silently, breathing elevated slightly as Dante stared at him and waited for any kind of reply. When he got none and Nero didn't try to hop down and run away, he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and sighed. He waited another minute before reaching for the wrapped arm. Nero didn't yank it away or bite him again, instead letting the arm hang limp, so Dante figured he'd won this time. He went slow, looking over the bandages before deciding he was going to have to cut them off.

"Don't move." He warned quietly, trying not to sound like he was ordering the kid around. He wasn't really mad at Nero for resisting. The boy had a right to his own privacy, but Dante's curiosity about the wrapped arm had been mounting and he was starting to wonder if it maybe had something to do with the demon that had been following him around his whole life. If so, then he needed to see it to better understand what he was dealing with.

Dante dug around for a first aid kit he really only kept around for dire emergencies and when Lady dropped by with gaping wounds. When he found it, he flipped it open and pulled out a pair of small silver scissors. Nero looked up from staring at his knees, saw the scissors and flinched.

"Look, it's not going to hurt, kid. If anything it will feel better with fresh bandages, right?" he didn't know why he was still trying to reassure Nero when it was clear there was nothing he could say to make this whole ordeal easier on the kid. "Besides, this was going to come up sooner or later; best to just get it out of the way right now and not worry about it."

Nero grudgingly admitted that Dante had a point. With his luck, something would happen that would lead to his arm being revealed. He still wasn't happy about it, and he was still afraid of his arm and the incoming reaction he was going to have to deal with from his new guardian, but facing the rejection and disgust now, while they were still pretty much strangers, was better than facing it after they spent more time together and got to be friends. And Nero would like to think that he and Dante could become friends eventually; if he even got to stay here that long and Dante didn't get eaten by the monster.

He bit his bottom lip and turned his face away as Dante started to cut away the bandages, not wanting to see the mounting disgust or fear from someone he was starting to admire and respect after last night. When Dante didn't say anything or reel back in terror, Nero glanced cautiously over to his slowly revealed arm that was prickling more from being exposed to the air, thinking it might not be so bad anymore; instead, when the last of the old bandages fell away and he got a good look, his heart feel like it had crawled up into his throat and got stuck there. He hadn't looked at his arm since he snuck a peek and wrapped it back up a year or so ago. But his hopes that it might have magically become better, more normal, were shattered.

His arm had gotten worse.


	9. Chapter 9

_Squab_

**A/N:** New chapter. Who cares about flow. Alright, a couple things you should know before reading this chapter.1) for the sake of this story, Nero was born with the devil bringer. 2) because he was born with it, it's just a baby like he is (but not literally), which is why I described it the way I did. 3) any of you who are new to my stories, the -o-o-o- you will see are my personal pagebreaks. I usually use them for timeskips.

**Disclaimer: **Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings:** OoCness, a lack of forethought (I literally just sat and let it come out however it wanted), and at the very end I threw in some light Lady/Dante for kicks and giggles.

**Dedications: **To the colony! And for oppressed bugs EVERYWHERE! (lol, reference)

Also, this one is the longest chapter I've written so far, over 3,000 words. So if you can enjoy nothing else about it, at least enjoy the length...

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><p><strong>Chapter 8: Jealous<strong>

Silence reigned between them, the air in the bathroom rife with tension and an undercurrent of fear. At first, Dante hadn't been sure what he was looking at. So many different images had come to mind when he'd thought about what the kid might be hiding under all those bandages, but none of them quite matched the reality. The arm was molted with a few pressure sores from the bandages being too tight and the limb not getting proper circulation or even just fresh air, but what really stood out was that the skin itself was gray; however, other than the sores and the discoloration, as far as Dante could tell there weren't any actual deformities. He turned the arm carefully over in his hands and noticed there were no nails on any of the five fingers, but that was the only other oddity which could be explained by a lot of things.

A small sound made Dante look up, seeing Nero was also staring at his own arm, eyes wide in horror as he started to breathe in a heavy, irregular pattern. It really hit him then why Nero was so adamant about not letting his arm be seen. It wasn't just for the benefit of other people, but to also hide it from himself.

"Hey, kid, it's not that bad." His words didn't seem to be heard and Nero was starting to shake. "Kid? …Nero, calm down before you pass out."

He realized he wasn't getting through and looked around the bathroom before snagging a discarded towel and wrapping it loosely over the exposed limb.

"There, you don't have to look at it, okay?" Dante waited a full minute before Nero finally turned his eyes away from the now covered arm and gave the older man his attention. He was back to looking far too pale and his pupils were dilated from panic. Of course, now that he had the kid's attention, Dante had no idea what he was supposed to say. "Uh…it's really not all that bad."

He continued to receive a blank stare, but at least the boy wasn't about to faint. Since he already had it unwrapped, Dante figured he might as well clean it. He warned Nero not to look but again it seemed his words were falling on deaf ears. It was just as well that the kid was staring at him then. As long as he wasn't looking at his arm, he should be alright. Dante turned them both so he could turn on the sink and stick the kid's arm under the faucet, letting the towel fall back to the floor. He thought the worst was over, but the instant water touched his arm Nero made some god-awful sound that was close to a scream and jerked away so violently he almost fell to the floor.

"What the hell is your problem?" Dante asked as he let go of Nero's arm in favor of keeping the kid from falling over.

"That hurts!"

Dante frowned and looked at the strange arm. He'd barely gotten it wet and the kid was acting like he just poured acid all over him. He could understand it being a little sensitive and most definitely sore after being trapped in those bandages for so long, but there was no reason for the water to do more than sting a little. The kid must have just been playing him to get away. "You're overreacting. It's fine." He hoped.

"No it's not! That hurt." Nero reiterated, glaring up at him through a veil of tears Dante couldn't decide were real or not.

"Look, you're fine. No burns or massive bleeding. It's a miracle your arm hasn't fallen off yet, but it's fine. Quit being a baby." He grabbed Nero's right wrist and guided the tense arm back under the running water. The boy was instantly struggling to get away, kicking his feet and yanking on his arm, but the fact that he wasn't shrieking proved that the water wasn't hurting him excessively. Dante was forced to wrap his other arm around Nero's back so he could keep the kid still and manage to reach the entire right arm he aimed to clean. Nero used the position to easily lean forward and bite the arm that was holding his own under the water. It was hard enough to draw blood, but Dante let the kid do whatever he needed to get this done.

The bandages had wrapped nearly all the way up to the shoulder, but as far as Dante could see the discoloration only extended a couple inches up past the elbow, then it was only a small patch here or there blemishing normal looking skin. While he was rinsing off months worth of dirt, grime, and dead skin, he discovered that the grayed flesh had a ribbed, textured feel to it. And while there were no present fingernails, something was growing in the nail bed of each finger so there was a good chance they would grow back if given the chance. Dante also found that some of what he assumed was pressure sores were actually rough patches of what felt like hide, growing over the tender skin.

With each new discovery, Dante's heart sank further and further. In the back of his mind he had a constant worry of just how much demonic blood was in this kid. He was convinced there had to be quite a bit just from the boy's rough behavior, but now he could see this arm Nero was always hiding was clearly growing in like a literal devil's arm; which could also explain why Nero was so small. His body was concentrating on maturing this limb instead of sharing the growth evenly. There was a good chance there was hardly any human in the kid at all.

"Did it always look like this?" Dante asked quietly as he gently soaped up Nero's arm. He could feel the boy trembling against him and every now and then he'd grind his teeth in Dante's skin, the only indication he had to go by that something he was doing might be painful. "Hey look, if it hurts that bad, just say so and I'll stop."

Nero had kept his eyes squeezed shut through the whole ordeal. Sure his arm was tender, but it was more disturbing than painful to have the foreign sensation of something touching it. Though he was a little relieved by the fact that Dante wasn't completely disgusted by his arm, or him, Nero still felt a little sick at the image burned into his brain of just how bad his arm looked. It looked like it should belong to a monster, not a little boy. It was also frustrating that all the tricks that had kept others from getting anywhere near his arm didn't work on Dante at all. The older man always called his bluff. So rather than being in pain, Nero was more afraid than anything else. He could hear Dante talking to him almost constantly, and if he bothered to pay attention it probably was just nonsense, but the sound of a normal, mellow voice in the face of his ugly arm was calming. Being squeezed between Dante's arms and leaning against a solid chest was rather reassuring. And the sound of a strong, even heartbeat helped Nero relax and finally stop biting.

Dante paused in the middle of rinsing off the kid's arm one last time when Nero lifted his head and their eyes met. He could see a few tears stained his face but somehow the kid had kept quiet about crying. "If you want me to stop, you're a little late. I'm already done."

Sighing raggedly, Nero was half tempted to look at his arm, but decided against it, instead hiding his face in Dante's chest. It was more comfortable there and while he didn't completely trust this strange adult who was watching out for him, Dante had earned a lot more admiration by not freaking out over his arm. He acted like such a scary looking, abnormal thing was routine.

Dante was strangely quiet as Nero felt him dry off his arm and then start wrapping it up again. He went slowly and though the new bandages felt strange after his arm being exposed to so much air and then the water, it was comforting to know it was being covered again. The wrappings were snug, but not nearly as tight and uncomfortable as the ones he'd put on himself and when Dante announced he was done, Nero sat up and finally looked at his arm as he instinctively flexed his fingers and was surprised and pleased to see he could close his fingers completely into a fist with his right hand. He bent and straightened his arm a few times and found that his elbow wasn't restricted either. And through all the movement, the gauze didn't slip once.

"How's that?" Dante asked cautiously, watching Nero intently for a sign of…anything really. He didn't know what to expect anymore.

"Doesn't itch so bad." Nero informed quietly, looking over the bandages and waiting for a million questions he couldn't answer to come his way. Instead, Dante helped him down to the floor and they left the bathroom in silence.

Dante paused by his desk and seemed to be contemplating something as he stared at the worn surface. "You ended up in the perfect place for your situation, kid. Don't get your hopes up too high, but if you want I could maybe look into what's up with that arm. I'm not making any promises, but there might be something we can do about it."

Nero shook his head after a moment. "I wish I could just cut it off." He wasn't interested in trying to find a cure when there most likely wasn't one.

"I wouldn't advise it. I hear it's painful."

"It didn't use to be so bad…what if it doesn't stop?"

Dante glanced down and was surprised at the sudden, hopeless look on the kid's face. "What if what doesn't stop?" he asked, though he had a pretty good idea what Nero was thinking.

"My arm. What if it just keeps getting worse and worse? What if it isn't just my arm? What if all of me turns into a monster?" Nero's expression went from fast on the track to panic straight to neutral. "You gonna shoot me then?"

"For the last time, I'm not going to shoot you, Nero. Ever. So knock it off." Dante said with an exasperated sigh. He ruffled up Nero's hair and then reached for his phone. "I'm getting us some food. And this time, you're going to eat some of it."

Nero accepted the subject change. He wasn't in the mood to eat, but anything to take his mind off the thought of turning into some kind of monster was welcome. Maybe he could ask Dante to tell him more stories and they could both forget about his arm.

-o-o-o-

"Is pizza all you ever eat?" Nero asked as he picked off some more cheese from an already mutilated slice of said pizza and popped it in his mouth. They'd been quiet while waiting for the pizza to arrive, and once it did Dante sat down and, instead of sitting all the way across the room, Nero decided to climb up onto the desk and sit on the edge facing the older man. From there, the words just flowed from his mouth, mixing with the continuous rock music that played from the lit up jukebox in the corner.

"Why does that seem like such a problem to everyone?" Dante wondered as he savored another bite.

"Well, cause it's junk food. And it's bad for you."

"One man's garbage is another man's ambrosia, kid. You'll learn to love it."

"If it's all you're gonna eat, I'm definitely running away." Nero said soberly as he finally picked up the nearly bare crust and took a full on bite. He didn't have much of an appetite after the ordeal with his arm, but his body was once again winning out over his mind. The lack of food all day yesterday had to catch up to him eventually.

Dante was glad to see the kid eating. He'd been getting worried that the boy would starve himself after refusing to eat at all the previous day. But when he thought about it, he wouldn't be too hungry either after such a violent evening followed by being taken in by strangers toting guns; only to be attacked yet again. At least that seemed to be behind him, since Nero had eaten his fair share already. Who knew a little guy like him could eat nearly half of a large pizza by himself?

"Just try it, punk. I'll find you and drag you back here." Dante said, gesturing with his half eaten pizza slice. "Besides, what kid would run away from a place that let you eat pizza all the time?"

"A kid who likes to eat other stuff."

"Like what?" He challenged, curious for the kid's answer.

"Like…what about ice cream? Or chocolate milk? Kids like other stuff besides pizza, you know." Nero snorted, his tone implying it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I eat ice cream." Dante replied defensively. "You just haven't been here long enough to see me eat any."

"So eat some." Nero countered, tossing what was left of his crust into the empty box and crossing his arms.

Dante fought off the urge to laugh. "I'm not going to eat any right this second, kid."

"Why not?"

"Because I just ate pizza."

The boy rolled his eyes as if he'd been expecting that and didn't think Dante ate ice cream at all, but was only humoring him. If nothing else, at least Nero was in a better mood. Dante had been worried he might have botched the whole 'gain trust with the child so you can better protect him' plan after what happened in the bathroom; however, the kid seemed more at ease and a large part of that was probably from sharing his dark little arm secret and nothing bad coming about because of it.

Finishing off his last piece, Dante dusted off his hands and got to his feet. He had just tossed the pizza box in the general vicinity of the overflowing garbage can, partially to show off and partially because he was too lazy to walk all the way over there, when the doors were thrown open and in came the last person Dante wanted, or expected, to see just then.

"Lady!" Nero shouted happily. So happily, in fact, that Dante actually found he was a bit jealous of how excited the kid was to see the huntress.

"I should have known you wouldn't clean up around here just because you were supposed to be taking care of a child." Lady admonished as she looked around the cluttered office that was as filthy as ever. Her frown dissolved into a surprisingly genuine smile as Nero came trotting over to her. She put her hand on his head and brushed back his hair fondly. She always had a soft spot in her heart for kids, though usually she was nicer to the girls for the sole reason of she could relate to them more easily. "Well, at least you're still alive. And if you can survive one night here, then you can pretty much survive anything."

"Ha, ha." Dante said dryly as he rolled his eyes. "What are you even doing here?"

Nero smiled a little ruefully before shrugging and looking away as his cheeks went pink. "Yeah, I didn't think you would come back. Where's Trish?"

"She's…around. And of course I came back. I had to check up on you, after all. I'm glad I did, too, because you obviously still need clothes and the numbskull who's supposed to take care of you didn't even think of getting you any."

Dante would've argued against that, but really, she had him there. He hadn't given much thought to the kid's wardrobe. But he was sure he would have eventually if she didn't come barging in.

"So I'm going to take you shopping and make sure you get some fresh air." Lady concluded.

"Cool!" Nero looked around for his shoes before remembered that they were still upstairs and raced up to get them. "I'll be right back!"

Once he was out of the room, Lady turned her frown back on and walked over to Dante who looked resigned to his fate of being scolded.

"So what are you really doing here, Lady?"

"What happened last night?"

"Wow…haven't heard _that_ question in a while."

"This is serious, Dante."

He sighed and tried for nonchalance as he said, "Honestly? The demon came after the kid. Came right into my place, too." When Lady looked caught between frustration and worry he added, "But it seems you already expected that," which explained what she was doing here instead of hunting down the demon. "I chased it off and it didn't come back. And while we're on the subject, you could have at least told me what you were hunting."

Lady narrowed here eyes at him before she propped her hands on the gun belt strapped across her hips. "I would have, but I didn't know myself until the same night me and Trish went to the orphanage." She defended.

"And you just neglected to tell me when you dumped the kid in my lap; real nice." Dante shook his head and held up his hands. "But don't bother making excuses, its cool. We're all on the same page now anyway. So…have any bright ideas on how to kill it?"

"Not yet, but we will. In the mean time, I'm going to get the kid some clothes and while we're gone, you should think about cleaning this place up."

Dante leaned back against the edge of his desk and shrugged. "Alright, whatever. Keep him for all I care. He seems to like you more anyway."

Lady's frown once again melted into a smile, although this one wasn't as warm and sweet as the one she gave Nero. This one was more a knowing grin than a smile. "Are you jealous?"

"About what?"

She said nothing, but the grin remained even when Nero ran back down the stairs with his shoes on.

"Okay, I'm ready!" he said, a little out of breath from the run. "Let's go," he bounded out the door before waiting for a response, eager to not just get out of the office but to also ride on Lady's motorcycle again. How many kids his age got to do that?

Lady sighed and turned for the door, pausing when Dante grabbed her arm.

"What?" she huffed.

Dante hesitated before saying gruffly, "Get him something with long sleeves. He might like it."

That grin came back as Lady touched a gloved finger to her lips before lightly pressing the same finger against Dante's downturned mouth in an indirect kiss. "You're pretty cute when you pretend not to care. Don't worry, I'll bring him back in one piece." She promised with a wink before outright laughing at him and walking out the door.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **Hi people! I'm sorry I went and disappeared for a while there. I'm caught up in the holidays with my family. Consequently, my free time has been spent with them and helping to finish up last minute Christmas shopping. But now that we're here on the Eve, I realized I should write down what's been stuck in my head this whole time I've been too busy to write. This chapter you have before you is only part of it. And while this one is way shorter than the last few have been, the next one is going to probably end up really long and...well, I won't spoil it. Just be patient and you'll get an awesome treat, that's all I can say!

Merry Christmas to everyone and in case I don't update in time, Happy New Years too xD

**Disclaimer: **Devil May Cry and it's characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings: **Eh...OoCness, little bit of fluff there at the end, mild cursing...pretty much it this time.

**Dedications: **To my little brother for rolling his eyes, but still reading everything I shoved under his nose so I could get some input on this chapter before I uploaded it. He's the one who said I should end it the way I did.

And to **Blood of Dusk** for threatening to beat me in unmentionable ways if I didn't put something new up soon. All I can say is you better review this one for all the trouble I went to, lol! Nah, you don't have to. Love all you guys out there!

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><p><strong>Chapter 9: Bait<strong>

The sudden quiet of the office was more a curse than the blessing Dante had previously thought it would be. Silence should be bliss, especially after having his world invaded so suddenly, but being alone was giving him the opportunity to think. Nero reminded him so much of himself as a child that Dante found he was constantly fending off memories. Even lying back on the couch and trying to take a nap while Nero was gone with Lady didn't settle his mind. He hated thinking about the past. The good memories always hurt more than the bad ones did. For example, thinking about how close he and his brother Vergil were as kids caused Dante's heart to ache more than remembering what happened at Temen-ni-gru. The two of them had always fought, had always been rivals even as children, but those contests would invariably end with them cuddled together in a single bed even though they each had their own. In a twisted way, it was how they had bonded. But all the memories were reminding him of how his life had been simple and pleasant before his mother was killed and he lost Vergil.

Dante reluctantly opened his eyes, his gaze drawn over to his desk, thoughts centered on the picture he kept hidden away in one of the drawers. He had spent years burying his past yet sometimes it felt like it was lurking around every corner, waiting for a chance to creep up and sink its claws into him to try and drag him down into some kind of despairing pit.

Grunting at his dropping mood, he forced his eyes closed again and folded his arms behind his head, legs stretched out to take up most of the battered old couch. He'd rather not think at all, but when he wasn't preoccupied with pushing back the past, he found himself now worrying about Nero. The little punk could probably take care of himself and Lady was more than capable of watching over the kid for the time it took to go get some clothes; but as a part of getting attached, Dante had discovered he was growing incredibly protective of the boy.

_So much for keeping your distance,_ Dante thought to himself derisively as he inevitably sat up to go and raid his bar. His mind wasn't going to shut up without the assistance of liquor.

-o-o-o-

It wasn't long after he finished half a bottle that Dante was finally able to doze a little. His tolerance was much too high for even a full bottle to get him drunk, but even a small amount of alcohol helped him reign in his thoughts easier. Couple that with the fact that he hadn't actually slept more than a couple hours in nearly two days and he was drowsy enough to lack the energy to focus on the painful memories his brain was determined to call up.

So although he swore he could hear the echo of his and Vergil's voices in the surrounding silence, Dante was able to ignore them enough to at least relax. He was on the verge of actually falling asleep completely when the door opened and he internally groaned at the thought of a customer. He could use the money, but he really didn't want to put up with anybody right now. There was the soft murmur of voices and instead of focusing on what they said Dante was too busy silently lamenting the fact that there was more than one person. There was the soft sound of footsteps and he was half tempted to shout that he was closed for the day, but maybe if they saw he was asleep they would get the message and go away on their own.

That's what he hoped for. What he got instead was someone shouting his name, sudden weight leaping on top of him and something jabbing him painfully hard in the groin.

Cursing, Dante jerked and opened his eyes to see Nero was crouched on top of him and laughing. Though he should be pissed, the devil hunter instead found himself feeling relieved that the kid was alright and back where he could keep an eye on him. "You punk,"

Nero laughed and tried to crawl up higher on him but Dante winced and sat up completely, lifting the boy off him and setting him back down on the floor.

"Watch it," he said seriously. It was then that he noticed Lady was there as well. The woman glanced over at him smugly from where she was setting down two large bags full of clothes on his desk. He should've known it was Lady behind this. From what he'd learned of Nero's personality so far, it was that the kid was rather serious and wouldn't just go jumping onto people.

Dante rolled his eyes and stiffly got to his feet, looking down at the little offender and got a good eyeful of the kid's new wardrobe. Apparently he'd already changed into nicer clothes after buying them. Instead of the too large, threadbare hand-me-downs of before, Nero was sporting a new black beanie hat, a nice red shirt that had black sleeves so long they covered all but the tips of his fingers and a pair of dark jeans. Dante tilted his head at that. He didn't know they even made jeans that small. They were…ridiculously cute, actually. He made sure to keep that thought to himself and instead focused on the fact that not only were the clothes brand new, but there were a lot of them and they looked expensive to him.

He sent Lady another frown. "I take it I paid for all this?"

"I'll just deduct it from your share of this job's pay when it's over."

"So I _am_ getting paid? How generous of you."

Lady just smiled at him. "Yes it is. Hey Nero, why don't you take your new clothes upstairs, hm?" she suggested, instantly getting a nod from the boy who eagerly went over to collect the large bags and drag them over to the stairs. It still annoyed Dante that the kid did everything Lady said without arguing. He must really like Lady if he listened to her.

Dante watched Nero struggle to pull the bags up the stairs, but made no move to help. He'd probably get bit. He sighed once the kid made it to the top and moved out of sight. Once he was though, Lady started talking again, this time not quite so teasing.

"I can tell you're still brooding over thinking Nero likes me more than you. While it's fun to watch you get jealous, let me just say that he didn't stop talking about you the whole time we were out." She admitted. "Now will you quit pouting?"

He hadn't been pouting, but he wouldn't say that he didn't feel a bit better knowing that piece of information. Then she continued speaking and that small flare of good feeling was snuffed out.

"We're in some serious shit, Dante." Lady began; all business suddenly. "Trish hasn't found any way we can kill the demon. There are some ways to slow it down, but it isn't going to make it stop. In fact, if we try to contain it, we'll probably just piss it off."

He absently rubbed the back of his neck. "So it _is_ what I thought. What's the plan then?"

Lady was quiet for a moment before she said softly, "Trish and I are going to watch your place tonight. It's almost a certainty that it will come back once the sun goes down. If it's already spent this long targeting Nero, it's safe to say it isn't going to stop until it kills him. We'll try everything we can think of to kill it then."

Dante tensed at her words, eyes turning to the staircase. "….you're going to use the kid as bait?"

"I know it sounds horrible, but we don't have much of a choice. We'll call and warn you if we see it so you can be prepared in case it gets inside."

"Did you tell the kid about any of this?"

Lady looked offended. "Of course I didn't. Why the hell would I make him worry like that?"

Dante wasn't sure what had possessed him to ask either, but as much as he valued keeping things simple and honest, he wanted to spare Nero the knowledge that the people who were supposed to be taking care of him were planning to use him to draw in the very monster he feared most.

After a long moment of silence, Lady walked over and lightly patted Dante's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. This demon may be a big player, but the fact remains that there is only one of it. With the three of us on its ass, it _will_ die." Because no demon lived once the devil hunters were on its tail. Dante didn't take too much comfort in those words, but he had little choice so he just nodded. Lady sighed and turned for the door, "Tell Nero I said bye and I'll see him soon, alright? I need to go scout out your scabby neighborhood and find a good post for tonight."

He nodded again though he wasn't really paying much attention anymore and Lady left. Dante was finding this whole guardian business to be more and more of a headache. Said cause of the headache was currently tromping down the stairs in his new boots and stopped halfway down, standing on his toes to peek over the railing at Dante.

"I put my clothes away," Nero said quietly, startling Dante out of his thoughts.

The older man looked over to the kid and something about the sheepish, almost apologetic look on his face told Dante where he'd put those clothes. "You put them in _my_ room, didn't you?"

Instead of cowing, Nero hopped down the last of the stairs and crossed his arms. "Well, I woulda put them in my room, but there's all these bullet holes and stuff in there." He said casually, but there was an underlying accusation in the words that both annoyed and amused Dante.

"I take it that's supposed to be my fault."

"Duh! You're the one shooting guns everywhere!"

Dante chuckled at that and ruffled Nero's hair, much to the kid's irritation as expressed by that little baby growl of his. "Easy, tiger. I'll get around to fixing up that room." He promised, and was surprised to find that he actually meant it. "How about some lunch?" he offered.

"It's past lunch." Nero muttered.

"Dinner then."

"It's too early for that!"

"Then how about we just eat food for the hell of it?" Dante asked as he went over to his phone to order another pizza.

"We already ate pizza!" Nero argued with a frown, but didn't suggest anything else he might want to eat and instead followed after the devil hunter not unlike a baby duck; the unconscious action making Dante smile in spite of himself.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **Oh man guys, sorry for not updating in a while. Anyways, this chapter ended up FREAKISHLY long. I am reeeeaally sorry about that. I considered breaking this up into two chapters, but once I finally motivated myself to write out the action I had planned, I couldn't make myself stop and there was no really good breaking point that I could be satisfied with. I also finally gave the demon in this story a name. I know, it's not very original, but the stuff I'm making it capable of I'm hoping is fairly original. Don't worry if you don't really understand what it is, more details will come in following chapters. For now, um...try to enjoy this? I didn't bother to go through this more than one and (maybe) a half times to edit before giving up. I wrote it. It's long. It's 3 a.m. I'm done.

**Secondary Note:** Thank you to all of you who reviewed, I'm sorry I didn't get around to replying to you all individually. One person I want to address directly though is **Nefarious Seraph 13.** You asked which iteration of Dante I was using for this particular story (from DMC 1, 2, 3, or 4 or probably any of the other looks he's been given through other mediums like the anime or novel) and I had to wonder if anyone else was asking themselves the same thing. Well, to answer your question...pick one. This story is heavily AU and other than the backstory of Dante himself and how he met Lady and Trish I'm not adhereing to any of the original storyline, so picture your favorite look of his and go with it. I know that's incredibly lazy of me, but other than his general description, I didn't mention what he looks like in detail, sorry.

**Warnings:** A quirky beginning, a badly written, overly long action scene (so drawn out, I'm sorry), a really long A/N (sorry about that too), cursing, mentions of blood.

**Disclaimer:** Devil May Cry and it's characters belong to Capcom. I also don't own Alastor or Shadow (if you've played the first DMC, you should know what they look like. If not, Google is your friend).

Happy New Year!

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><p><strong>Chapter 10: Run<strong>

"I don't wanna go to bed."

Dante stared down at the defiant scowl Nero was giving him, aware of an oncoming headache. After Lady brought the kid back, they had gotten along fine…up until Dante tried to shoo the punk up to bed.

"Too bad. It's late and kids should be sleeping."

"I don't _want_ to." Nero stressed, crossing his arms.

"I'm not going to let you stay up all night again."

"I'm not tired." The kid insisted. "Besides, what if the monster comes back?"

"All the more reason to sleep while you can so you have the energy to run." Dante said simply, trying to steer Nero to the stairs again, regardless of how hard the boy dug in his heels.

"Wait!" Nero shouted, apparently getting a second wind as he wriggling out from under Dante's hands. "I want some water first!"

Dante sighed and shook his head in defeat as he turned to walk towards the kitchen. He called it that, but really it was just an alcove with some cupboards and a sink. He heard Nero's footsteps following right behind him but refused to be charmed by the kid's new habit. As soon as he filled a cup with water, he turned and held it out. "Don't I even get a 'please'?"

Nero glared up at him and stretched his arms up to reach the cup Dante purposefully held just out of reach. "Give it!"

"You're one rude midget." Dante muttered as he let Nero finally take the cup from him.

"Don't call me that," Nero huffed as he held the cup with both hands and took a long, slow drink. So long, in fact, that Dante found himself tapping his foot impatiently. When the kid finally came up for air, Dante reached for the cup only to get growled at. "Wait 'til I'm done!"

"For the love of…you're hankering for a smack, kid."

"Dare you to try it…" Nero mumbled into the cup as he finished up the water.

He frowned at that reply. "Punk…by the way, you still haven't apologized for taking a flying leap into my nuts earlier today."

Nero sniggered into his cup, gurgling some of the water in the process.

"You think that's funny?"

"Yeah, I do," the boy said with another small laugh into his drink.

Dante decided that he and Lady had two very different perspectives on the term 'like'. She claimed that Nero liked him, yet the kid gave him nasty attitude all the time while he was nothing but polite to Lady and Trish. The boy drove him up a wall and was always rude and glaring; not exactly the behavior of someone who supposedly 'liked' him.

Once Nero relinquished the empty cup, they argued over bedtime for another fifteen minutes before Nero finally went upstairs to 'get away from Dante being a jerk'. Dante didn't take it personally; well, perhaps he did a little. But he was glad to end the arguing.

He pulled on his coat and started to pace as he went over the expectations of the evening. Earlier, he had packed a small bag and Rebellion in the trunk of his car; a sinking suspicion telling him that he and Nero would need to make a quick getaway. He hadn't heard from Lady yet, and he hoped he wouldn't. The only reason she would have to call would be if she or Trish spotted the demon coming towards his place. As much as he enjoyed fighting, he found it was significantly less exciting when there was a child's life relying on him.

-o-o-o-

A tense hour or two passed before Dante heard movement. He looked up from the old magazine he was flipping through to see Nero coming down the stairs slowly, dragging his feet and rubbing at his eyes. The kid hadn't bothered to change his clothes, furthering Dante's convictions that Nero had no intention of sleeping even after being forced to go upstairs.

"You're supposed to be asleep." Dante pointed out needlessly.

"I gotta pee," Nero replied flatly as he made it to the bottom step and continued shuffling across the room to the open bathroom door.

Said door clicked quietly shut as Dante tried to turn his attention back to reading to pass the time. He was getting antsy just sitting and waiting for something to happen. Waiting was always the hardest part. It didn't help that his paranoia that had been lingering for weeks was starting to wrestle its way to the forefront of his mind.

"….I'm thirsty."

Dante jerked back in his chair and inhaled sharply at the unexpected voice, heart pounding as he looked over to where Nero was standing next to him. He had been so focused on forcing himself to relax that he hadn't noticed the kid come out of the bathroom. He released his held breath and stood up to head for the sink again. "You know, this just means you'll be up again in an hour."

Nero chose not to comment, or maybe he was finally sleepy enough to not care, and simply drank his water before shuffling back up the stairs.

As endearing as that brief distraction had been, Dante found himself attempting to wear away the remaining hours until sunup with everything from resuming his previous pacing, flipping through every old magazine he could find while his brain registered none of it, staring longingly over at his bar even though he knew better than to be drinking, and even cleaning up a bit. Though that last option had really been a last resort after Nero had gone back upstairs and stayed up there for almost three whole hours. It was officially past midnight and there was still no obvious sign of the demon they were all expecting.

The thought of there being no obvious sign, but still a chance that it had managed to sneak inside somehow had Dante climbing the stairs quickly but quietly. He noted that his bedroom door was halfway open and was ready, and probably all too willing thanks to his growing tension, to draw his guns at the first clue of anything being amiss. Instead when he peeked into the dark room, all he saw was Nero curled up under the covers and perched precariously on the very edge of the mattress as he slept. Either he was used to waking up and making a quick run for the door or the kid remembered the rule Dante had instigated the previous night of staying on his side of the bed. The devil hunter preferred to think it was the latter, because then Nero's life wouldn't seem so horrible.

Dante's paranoia made him search the room, though he did his best to stay quiet since the kid was actually asleep, but resulted in finding no hidden monsters. He went around the end of the bed to peer out the dirty window that had the wonderful view of the alley, but there wasn't anything lurking there either. He would try for optimism and say that the demon wasn't going to come back, but he was convinced it would even if Lady hadn't resorted to using a child as bait to lure it in.

Sighing at the thought of all the hours of waiting and inevitable attack ahead, Dante paused on his way out of the room to nudge Nero closer to the center of the bed. He got an adorable little grumble from the boy but that was about it. The kid hardly moved other than burrowing deeper into the blankets.

"At least one of us is getting some sleep," He said softly as he straightened out the blankets around the lump that was slumbering under them. Dante considered spending the rest of his time up here when he heard the phone ringing downstairs. He reluctantly left the room and trotted down to the ground floor. Still, the phone rang four full times before he finally answered it, proving it might be someone worth talking to. Maybe it was Lady calling off their plan for tonight since it was so quiet. To be safe, when he picked up the receiver he said, "We're closed—''

"Dante!" Lady interrupted, her voice a low hiss. "Take Nero and run."

"What?" the word 'run' wasn't computing in his brain. "Did you spot the demon?"

"I spotted a demon alright, but none of them are the one we're looking for," Lady wasn't bothering to lower her voice anymore and from over the phone line and from not far outside the office he could hear gunfire beginning to erupt. "There's a whole pack of shadow demons coming right to your front door and bullets aren't doing much to slow them down."

"What kind of shadow demons?" Dante asked, eyeing the windows as he cradled the phone between his ear and shoulder to leave his hands free to pull out Ebony and Ivory.

"All kinds! Now grab Nero and get the hell out of there. We'll cover you as best we can,"

Dante frowned as Lady hung up on him and dropped the receiver as he turned to focus on the front doors that were groaning as if a heavy weight was leaning against them from the outside. He had half a second to wish he hadn't packed Rebellion in the truck of his car when the doors burst open and a mass of shadows spilled into his office. Lady hadn't been kidding; demons of all kinds were invading. At least one was familiar: a Shadow that was slinking forward with its feline form swaying almost gracefully and full of deadly intent. Most he didn't recognize at all and they ranged in all sizes and types from the intangible wisps floating in the air to the human-looking shadows sliding along the walls, not to mention the various malleable shapes that were crawling across the floorboards. There was a good chance that most of them weren't even real, but Dante wasn't going to take that chance, instead calling out for Nero as he opened fire.

A couple of the forms drew back, but most of them continued steadily forward while some leapt forward to attack.

When his guns didn't prove to be very effective, Dante tucked them away and ducked under the Shadow that launched itself over his hunched form. He reached for the wall and grabbed the first weapon his hand came in contact with. His arm and then his entire body began to hum with energy as he flipped Alastor around for a better grip just in time to block one of the shadows on the wall that had reached its clawed arms out to grab at him. The instant it came in contact with the brightly sparking blade it vanished, leaving only the Shadow and a few demons on the floor while the rest drew together to create a much larger, single form that walked straight for the stairs.

The same stairs that Nero had just appeared at the top of, still trying to rub sleep out of his eyes and complaining about all the noise.

Dante's heart crawled up into his throat, forming a tight knot as he recognized the larger form. The demon was exactly what he, Lady and Trish expected it was: a Nightshade. And it must have been more powerful and intelligent than any of them had thought if it was capable of such a cunning plan. Nero's face went sheet white once he got a glimpse of the monster he so feared, the boy freezing in place as it advanced towards him with its unnerving, toothed grin.

"Nero, run!" He shouted, slicing Alastor through the pool of remaining shadow forming around his feet so he could intercept the creature on the stairs. "Go out a window, just get away however you can, I'll catch up!" he was suddenly blocked from the stairs by the larger, feline body of Shadow leaping at him again. Dante had almost forgotten it was still there since all the rest had vanished, most having been either an illusion or smaller pieces of the Nightshade that was currently stalking up his stairs.

He smacked the Shadow back with his blade, the crackling veins of electricity wrapping around the sword briefly slicing through the demonic illusion and making it yowl. It didn't disappear like the weaker shadows, though, and instead gathered its smoky form back together and shook off the stunning blow. Dante took the chance to glance up at Nero who either hadn't heard him or was still too scared to move.

"Move it, kid!" the words were only enough to get Nero to glance at him; the kid still didn't run.

The Nightshade demon paused in its ascent to turn its head and leer down at him with those burning red eyes and wide smile, as if it were taunting him. Dante growled at that look and decided to prove that he didn't lose. He threw Alastor towards the staircase, the blade embedding itself into the wall between the larger demon and Nero. The instant it made contact, the sword began to glow brightly, shooting off lightning towards the Nightshade. The demon shrieked at the light and lifted its thin arms to cover its sensitive eyes. Regardless of how powerful it was, it was still a shadow demon and none of them liked bright lights.

The distraction worked by making the Nightshade hesitate, but whether it was an illusion or not, the Shadow was a real threat and it had recovered enough to jump at him again, forcing Dante to roll out of the way since he was momentarily unarmed. When even the lightshow wasn't enough to make Nero take off, Dante pulled out his pistols again and shot Ivory at the Shadow to keep it at bay; lifting Ebony and silently apologizing for breaking his word as he squeezed off a round at Nero.

The bullet ricocheted off the wall barely an inch from the kid's head and disappeared somewhere else in the room, but it was enough of a wakeup call to get Nero to flinch and back down the hall away from the stairs.

"Run for it, Nero!"

Finally able to make himself move after hearing the words, Nero turned from the flickering light and ran back down the hall, ducking into Dante's room and slamming the door shut. He knew a door wasn't going to be enough to stop the monster, but it was instinct to put up any barrier he could. He looked around the room, trying to come up with an escape plan when his eyes landed on the window. Nero rushed over and tried to yank it open. The old window stuck stubborn in its frame for a heart-pounding couple of seconds before finally snapping open.

His body was starting to flood with adrenaline and his rapid heart didn't slow in the least when Nero realized how high up he was from the pavement at the bottom of the alley. There was a rusted out heap of a fire escape close enough he could reach, but the weight of one hand on a rail was enough to snap it off and send it crashing to the ground below. Nero swallowed hard as he realized he wasn't going to be able to use that to climb down. He leaned out of the window further and saw the drain pipe from the gutter riveted to the brick wall. With no other choice, he climbed up to dangle his legs out the window and sit carefully on the narrow sill to reach for the pipe as the sound of more gunfire came from downstairs.

The thought of abandoning Dante to fight the monster alone gave the boy pause. Next to the demon, one of the things he feared most was losing people he dared to get close to. He'd tried his best, but he really liked Dante and he didn't want the man to die like his mother and adoptive parents; or any of the other people in the orphanages the monster had slaughtered to get to him.

He was debating whether he should really leave when the bedroom door splintered open and the monster came running across the room to get to him. Nero cried out as he jumped for the drain pipe, wrapping his arms around it as tightly as he could, but the metal was smooth and slick from an earlier rain. He fought for purchase of any kind even as he started to fall. He squeezed his eyes shut and braced for impact only to jerk to a stop. He couldn't help but scream when instantly it felt like his leg had caught fire. Nero forced his eyes open to find he was hanging upside down. He looked up to see the monster leaning out the window with its claws hooked into his thigh, grinning evilly as he helplessly hung from its grasp.

Nero's eyes watered and blurred his vision as the monster started to pull him up. Panicked, he used his left hand to grab onto his burning leg that was soaking his jeans in blood and pulled himself up just enough to swing his right arm towards the monster's face out of instinct. Talons that had grown without the bandages wrapped so tightly ripped through the gauze and slashed across dark skin, spilling something warm and black onto Nero's face. The monster shrieked, deafening him, and it released his leg in favor of protecting its face from another attack.

He instantly began to fall again, but just when Nero expected to hit the hard pavement below and die or at the very least break a lot of bones, all of the air escaped his lungs in a rush as he smacked into a pile of black garbage bags he hadn't seen from the window. They cushioned his fall and other than gasping for breath and probably going to be bruised everywhere, he was unharmed.

Coughing, Nero rolled out of the garbage stiffly and tried to stand. Pain shot through his right leg, sending him back to the ground. He curled up in a ball for a moment, chancing a look down at his damaged limb. In the dark it was hard to tell that he was still bleeding, but the wetness soaking through his jeans was enough to prove it still was; and badly too.

Nero looked up towards the window he had just fallen out of and didn't see the monster. He wished that meant it had gone away, but he knew better. He tried to get to his feet again and failed. He could manage to sit up on his knees but there was no way he'd be able to walk. Over his pounding heart and throbbing leg, he trained to hear if the monster was coming up behind him, but he couldn't hear anything. There wasn't even the sound of gunfire anymore and his ears rang in the silence.

Something scraped against the wall nearby and he jerked his head up, spotting red eyes deeper in the alley and instantly cringed away from them, trying to drag himself backwards towards the main street with his useless leg as he heard footsteps coming towards him. He only got perhaps a foot or so before an arm wrapped tightly around him and yanked him up off the ground. Nero's first instinct was to fight, but that was quelled instantly when he realized who was holding him.

"You in one piece, kid?" Dante asked as he ran towards his car, holding Nero under one arm.

He could only nod as he stared to shake from shock setting in.

They got to the car and Dante dropped Nero down into the passenger seat. As soon as the engine was started he slammed his foot down onto the gas and they tore down the street once the spinning tires gained traction. As they sped away from Devil May Cry, they passed another swarm of shadow creatures. Either they were summoned by the Nightshade that was after Nero or it was powerful enough to split its form even further. It explained why Lady and Trish hadn't come busting into the office to help.

That was the least of his worries now, though. His biggest concern was getting Nero out of the city; the kid was shaking like a leaf, pale and breathing heavily. But at least he was alive. Dante kept glancing over at him, noting that somehow Nero's bandages had unraveled, leaving his right arm bare. The fact that the kid wasn't even concerned about that was a bit alarming.

"Hey kid…Nero, you alright?" He asked quietly after they had been driving for a few minutes.

Nero lifted his head to look up at him but seemed at a loss for words, only the sound of the wind breaking the silence between them. Before he could even get a chance to gather his wits, something slammed into the back of the car, sending it skidding almost completely sideways.

Dante cursed and grabbed at the wheel, managing to straighten them back out while Nero twisted his head around to look back. The boy's eyes widened and he ducked down onto the floor, tucking himself under the dashboard as much as he could as the demon climbed up over the trunk and reached its arm forward to sink its claws into Dante's shoulder.

The demon gave a sharp yank and the car skid again but managed to stay on the road. Dante was reduced to using only one hand to steer as the Nightshade had yanked his arm hard enough to jerk his shoulder from the socket, leaving one arm limp. He couldn't even lift it enough to shoot back at the bastard.

Though he was instinctively hiding, Nero knew he couldn't just sit and wait for them to crash. Something compelled him to crawl back up onto the seat and lunge for the thin black arm that had its clawed hand sunk deep into _his_ guardian. He wasn't going to lose anyone else he cared about. He growled and didn't even hesitate to sink his teeth as deep into the dark skin as he could. Just like when he clawed at it before, the monster shrieked at being bit and yanked its arm away. The force knocked Nero back into the door and for a moment he was worried that he would fall out of the convertible.

Releasing Dante had made the demon slide backwards but it still tenaciously held onto the moving vehicle.

"Kid, grab the wheel," Dante called out over the rush of wind.

Nero stared at the older man incredulously. "I-I can't drive!" he managed to stutter.

"Just hold it straight for a second." He instructed before letting go of the steering wheel to pop his arm back in.

Terrified of veering off the road and crashing, Nero leaped into Dante's lap, landing on his stomach and grabbing at the bottom of the wheel to keep it from turning. He didn't know if it was straight or not, but Dante kept his promise on it taking only a second; because a brief grunt of pain from the man later and he was back to driving with one hand while the other lifted one of his guns over his shoulder and shot the demon right between the eyes, forcing it to let go of the car and vanish. They both knew it wasn't dead, but the chance to put some distance between them and the now pissed off demon was good enough for now.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** I apologize AGAIN, for making you all wait so long for such a drab followup to my last chapter that was not only longer, but ten times better. I fell out of the loop with this story though I never forgot or misplaced the plot (for once) and admittedly, there was about a two month gap between the first half and the second half being written. There also may be some inconsistencies and spelling errors, but it's past midnight and I'm exhausted. Deal. Ha. Also, big sorry's to those of you who have been updating and I haven't reviewed. That's just not nice. I'll try and pick up my slack.

**Disclaimer:** Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings:** Er...OoC?

**Dedications: **To all of you who are currently about to read this chapter and especially those who plan on reviewing it. And to those of you who are worried about leaving reviews because you are self-conscious about your spelling abilities or english isn't your first language, please don't think that I would ever judge you over something so trivial! I love all my readers and I just want to make sure you're all having a great time reading my stories.

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><p><strong>Chapter 11: Haven<strong>

The wind rushed by in a dull roar as Dante continued to drive further and further from the city. It hadn't been long since they had lost the demon, and he wasn't going to risk giving it a chance to catch up by slowing down. He glanced over his shoulder, not trusting the mirror, but only saw a dark, empty street behind them. The sky was overcast and completely black, the air carrying a sharp chill, but he found the cold invigorating. The same could not be said for his smaller partner who had remained quiet since the Nightshade fell off the car and seemed to disappear.

Dante looked away from the road again briefly to check on Nero. The kid had saved them both and then crawled back down to the floorboards. He wedged himself under the dashboard again and didn't look willing to come out any time soon. Dante wasn't going to make him, either.

At least, not until they hit a particularly nasty rut in the road and Nero lifted a hand to brace himself against the jolt, leaving a smear of blood on the passenger seat.

The instant he saw that red mark that seemed overly bright under the streetlights they passed, Dante almost slammed on the brakes as his heart seemed to stop. "Hey, kid, you hurt?"

Nero lifted his head slightly, just enough for Dante to get a good look at his face. The pale yellow of another streetlight briefly lit up the boy's shadowed form and gave Dante more a glimpse of a ghost than of the feisty child he'd grown accustomed to. Nero's face was ashen, the dark lines under his eyes nearly purple; but it was those large blue eyes lacking in their usual fire that really indicated something was wrong.

Again Dante considered stopping the car; that glassy-eyed, pale-faced look was not a good sign. And Nero still hadn't answered his question, but it was obvious to the devil hunter now that he was paying closer attention that the kid was shivering violently.

"You _are_ hurt. Where? How badly?" he demanded.

Nero continued to stare up at him, eyes half closed as small white lines of strain appeared around his mouth. The boy shifted with a pain-filled grunt and lifted his other hand. His right arm was completely unwrapped and Nero either didn't notice or didn't care. Those small, nail-less fingers were now tipped with wickedly sharp talons that were stained with the black blood of the Nightshade. But that wasn't what horrified Dante. It was the amount of red, human blood that stained the grayed skin that made the hardened devil hunter feel ice-cold inside.

"I'm cold…and sleepy…my leg hurts," Nero finally mumbled before his head hung down again, as if he didn't have the energy to hold it up anymore.

"Kid? Hey!" Dante stomped his foot on the brake, unable to keep himself from doing it anymore. Once the car skidded to a stop on the side of the deserted road, he reached down to feel for the kid's pulse. Nero was still alive, but he wasn't fully conscious, barely grumbling a protest at the hand shaking him. "Nero! Get up!" he snapped, worried and uneasy. The longer they stayed stationary, the more the hairs on the back of Dante's neck stood up.

He growled at the situation, leaning over to pull Nero off the floor and back up into the passenger seat. The boy hissed and went tense, eyes squeezing shut as he gripped at the blood-stained denim sticking to his right leg. Dante would rather tend to it right then, but stopping when they had barely gotten away from the Nightshade last time would get them both killed, blood loss or no. He prodded at the visible tears in Nero's pants, and was relieved when no fresh blood welled up. It seemed to have already started to clot and heal, it just looked awful.

He shrugged out of his coat and wrapped it around the still shaking child as best he could without moving him too much. As bloody as his leg appeared and as much as he wanted to check Nero over for any more injuries immediately, the fact remained that they were still being hunted. In this condition, the kid wouldn't be saving their asses a second time. So it was up to Dante to find them a safe enough place for them to hide in; because travelling with Nero like this was not even an option.

"Try to stay awake, kid. If you die, I'll be the worst guardian ever." Dante muttered and sat up in his seat again, slamming his foot down on the accelerator this time; the car fish-tailing before it gained traction and leapt forward on the road again. As he drove, Dante continued to silently remind himself that the boy wasn't completely human and blood loss might not kill or damage him as it would a normal person. It was the only thing he could cling to and use to stave off the growing concern that was making him feel sick.

-o-o-o-

He was unsure when he'd fallen asleep, but when Nero awoke, he felt groggy and nauseated, surprised to find himself practically crushed against a solid chest; a heavy weight hung over his shoulders and surrounded him with the smell of leather, dried sweat, blood and gunpowder. The boy's nose wrinkled as his eyes flickered open wider for a moment. The movement of him rousing gained attention, because he heard Dante's low voice not a second later.

"You awake for real this time, kid?"

Nero grunted as the weight around his shoulders was lifted, forcing his eyes open again to see Dante's red coat being tossed to the side, landing in a heap next to where they were sitting on a bed. He frowned at the loss of the heat it had provided, shivering slightly at the cooler air of the room rushing over his back.

"Where 're we?" he mumbled, wondering why he felt sick to his stomach just from having a nap. As his mind began to really wake up, though, he started to remember: the monster coming to Dante's place, jumping out the window to escape, pain that he couldn't have even imagined in his worst nightmares; Dante driving them out of the city…the monster nearly catching them and then Nero had…he had…

He had attacked the monster back.

Nero shuddered and couldn't seem to stop. His body quivered uncontrollably from head to toe and he was suddenly wide awake but couldn't focus on anything. All he could do was review those images flashing in his mind and shake.

Dante cursed to himself when he noticed the kid dissolving into a severe case of panicked shock. Wide blue eyes stared at nothing, glazed over in terror, pale skin going sheet white as his small body tried to shake itself to pieces. He swore he could even hear the kid's teeth chattering.

He tugged Nero back against his chest and tried not to squeeze him too tightly. Dante didn't know what else he could do at that point. "Relax, Nero. You're safe." He wasn't sure if that was entirely true or not, but the kid didn't need to hear that.

Worry had made Dante's foot heavy as he'd driven them to the nearest sign of civilization after leaving the city behind. Nero had stayed out of it for most of the drive, occasionally coming to but only briefly and never fully lucid. He had chanced stopping twice to check the boy's leg, but it hadn't bled anymore and didn't appear to be poisoned, the deep gashes must have been nearly closed by that point. That had been the only comfort as he'd forced them to the closest haven he could find, which was unfortunately a dive motel across from a truck stop.

After getting one of the smallest, worst smelling rooms in existence, Dante had carried the unconscious Nero into the shared public bathroom long enough to rip the already ruined pants to get at Nero's injured leg. Under the drying blood, it hadn't looked as bad as he'd feared and though the wounds had been large and raw looking, they had been closed. He'd risked going out to the car to dig out the bag he'd packed in the trunk to find a change of clothes for Nero and the first aide supplies stuffed in there to wrap the wounds though they were pretty much healed already; and once the injury had been tended to properly, Dante couldn't think of much else he could do besides hole up in the crappy little motel room with Nero and hope the kid woke up somewhat normal once he got some rest.

That had been the hardest part; forcing himself to sit still in one place that wasn't exactly defensible with the kid wounded and a seriously pissed off demon hot on their tail. But they were relatively safe for now, though the longer they stayed, the worse off they'd be since they were giving the Nightshade a chance to catch up. The one upside to the awful room was that, though it wasn't far from Capulet, it smelled just bad enough to cover their trail, however temporarily. He already planned to try and contact Lady once the sun was up so they could regroup.

Dante wasn't sure how long he'd sat there waiting for Nero to wake up fully, so by the time the kid was conscious and started having his little episode, he had no clue what time it was. Eventually, though, Nero calmed enough to lift his head and look around the small, dim room. There wasn't much to look at; just the bed they sat on, a narrow bare floor, a small dirty window, a radiator crammed against one corner to keep the room somewhat warm and the door that opened into the hall leading to the front desk and only real exit.

"…it stinks in here," Nero huffed after a stretch of silence. Dante let out his held breath as the last of his concern started to melt away.

"If you can complain, I take it you're feeling better."

Nero looked up at him and slowly shook his head. He was still too pale and was even looking a bit green. "Feel sick," he mumbled before dropping his head back down against Dante's chest, rubbing his face roughly into the other's shirt.

"Not surprising," Dante replied, staring down at the top of Nero's head as his heart ached a little at the sight of the usually feisty kid cuddling against him in misery. He couldn't help but hug the kid close again. "You lost a lot of blood, kid. But it could have been worse. You'll be back to normal in a day or two." Time they didn't have, but again those details didn't need to be said aloud. Nero had taken enough rides on the emotional rollercoaster for one night. They both had for that matter.

Nero didn't seem to have heard him, hands curling around the devil hunter's shirt to keep a firm grip as if afraid he'd be put down and left alone now that he was alert and most of the danger had passed, staring down at himself now that the room had been looked over. "Dante?"

The kid didn't hold on to him or call him by his name often and Dante decided that he liked it. It made him feel like Nero had really accepted and decided to trust him. It was nice that they could find a moment to bond after getting through that hellish ordeal.

"Hm?

"….why are my pants ripped?" Nero demanded with an accusing little frown.

And there went the moment.


	13. Chapter 13

_Holy crap this is a hella long chapter_

**:EDIT: There was a lot wrong with this chapter, but considering I wrote the first part still half drunk at 4 am and the rest while staying up all night, it could have been a lot worse. The biggest issue was fighting with FFN's refusal to format properly while half awake; which led to a section being deleted without my noticing. It made one part that was just filler seem choppy and unexpected so I went through and tried to make it fit a bit better. Hope it flows! -Lotus**

**A/N: **Sorry it's taken me so long to update, guys. I had some strange medical issues that couldn't be treated (apparently) and then had a big birthday bash planned...which slowly declined into just having a few drinks and family visiting to take me to dinner. Now I'm getting packed up for my two-week vacation back to Colorado in seven days. Ominous reference aside, I'm excited to get out of my RL rut and hopefully it will jump start my brain back into writing.

**Disclaimer:** Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings:** OoCness and bonding. Plus I really, REALLY dislike how this chapter turned out. And I REALLY, **REALLY** dislike that I talked myself into rewriting what I had in the first place. Just...so you all know...

**Dedications:** to **bitbyboth**, or Triple B as I like to call you (makes you sound like a secret agent, like Vin Diesel except not quite as famous and probably a lot cuter). Because reading your updates always makes me happy and feel incredibly lazy at the same time, lol.

Onward and forward, troops, there's only one more chapter after this one (and maybe an epilogue)

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><p><strong>Chapter 12: Backup<strong>

After giving Nero a minute to have a mini brooding session over his ripped and ruined pants, Dante managed to convince the kid to move long enough to change. He dug a new pair out of the duffel he'd packed in preparation for their escape from the city and then came the hard part: getting Nero to change while he stayed in the same room.

There was always the option of the public bathroom, but he doubted anyone would want to change clothes in there. And Dante wasn't even considering the option that he would stand outside the crappy motel room and wait. The demon was still out there, pissed off and out for their hides, and Dante would be damned if he left the kid's side for more than a second until it was dead.

It took an extended argument and a great deal of pouting through the entire ordeal for Nero to finally cave and change into clean, untorn pants while Dante stood as far away as the tiny room allowed with his back turned to the boy.

Nero still claimed that he wasn't hungry, but their next order of business was to get some kind of food and drink into the kid. He'd been through a lot the previous night, and even though his injuries were all but healed by now, Dante knew from experience that healing yourself of massive wounds took a lot out of you; even when there wasn't a truckload of trauma on the side. If they were going to take on the Nightshade again in the very near future, they both needed to be in top form.

Once he coaxed the still exhausted boy out of their smelly little closet of a room and into the lobby, Dante spotted an old payphone barely hanging on its fastenings in the wall near the main exit. It was questionable if it would work by the looks of it, but he decided to give it a try anyway as he remembered his plan from a few hours before while waiting for Nero to wake. He counted it as a lucky break that the piece of crap hummed out a dial tone when he picked up the cracked receiver. Hopefully it could connect and hold a call long enough for him to get a hold of Lady so she and Trish could come meet them.

As Dante muttered to himself while digging through his pockets for enough change to put into the payphone, Nero tried to pretend like he wasn't pressing so close to the older man for comfort. He wouldn't deny that he was still scared, but the sky was brightening up outside and while the place they were staying stank and didn't have a single inch in it that wasn't stained, at least it wasn't housing monsters. Though the short man hovering behind the front desk only a couple feet away seemed like one with the uncomfortable way he was leering at the boy.

Nero tried to look occupied and keep his eyes on his boots, but chanced small glances to the side to see if the man was still staring every now and then as Dante seemed to finally get enough coins together to make a call. Pursing his lips together, Nero took another step closer to the hunter, pressing his small shoulder against the other's leg. He wasn't hiding…it was just taking a lot of energy to keep standing there… Another look to the side as Dante hesitated to dial while muttering something about never being able to remember anyone's number, plus a few comments on how he hated phones, showed that the man behind the counter was still staring at them.

There wasn't anything outwardly threatening about him. On the contrary, he was so short and shrunken in on himself he couldn't possibly pose a threat. Still, the intent way those dark, beady eyes were focused on them, on Nero especially, put the boy even more on edge. He completely ignored Dante's rule to never touch his coat as he grabbed the tail of the red leather and wrapped it over himself. Peeking over to see the man behind the counter grinning in a discomforting manner, showing off the few teeth left in his mouth that were rotted and yellowed, Nero pulled the coat around him tighter and turned his back to the creepy looking man.

Nero could still feel eyes on him though and tried to act like he wasn't bothered. He jumped slightly when a small weight dropped onto his head, but relaxed when he looked up and saw it was just Dante's hand roughly mussing up his already tangled hair. He grunted his disapproval at the action and barely caught the smirk on the man's face before Dante's attention was diverted as someone answered the other end of the call he'd been making.

"Lady! Don't hang up, it's me." Dante said quickly, knowing how touchy Lady was with answering numbers she didn't recognize.

A static-distorted sigh met his greeting. It was hard to tell if it was relieved or annoyed. If Dante had to guess, it was probably the latter.

"What took you so long to call?" Lady demanded, the words muffled and probably only audible because Dante had better hearing than most people. "See, this is why I keep telling you to get a god damned cell phone."

Of all the things she could say…she was using the opportunity to scold him? "Even if I had one, it's dangerous to talk on a phone while you're driving, you know." He said flatly.

"That isn't funny, you ass! Last night could have been a serious bloodbath. Trish and I nearly got killed to keep most of that demon's friends distracted so you two could make it out of town but they all vanished once you were out of sight." There was a pause before Lady asked in a quieter, strained sounding tone, "You got away, right?"

"Obviously, and it sounds like you babes did, too."

"With Nero alive?"

Dante frowned at the insistent question. "It's nice to see you so worried about me," he replied dryly.

"Dante!"

"He's fine Lady, jeez. Relax okay? I'm still doing my job." The instant he said it like that, though, Dante couldn't help but feel a small stab of guilt. He glanced down at the young boy who was practically fusing himself to the half-devil's leg, toying with a worn hole in the red leather of his coat. Nero wasn't just a job. Protecting the kid had nothing to do with getting any kind of reward anymore; unless one counted the kid being alive a reward. "We got away from it for now. We need to regroup while it's still light out." While shadow demons could be out in the daytime, they usually chose not to as they were weaker under the sun; however, the one after them was seriously pissed and most likely out for some real blood, so who knew what it would do.

Lady was silent for a moment before her voice came back, sounding stronger, "Agreed. Where did you two end up?"

"At a truck stop some thirty or forty-odd miles north? Maybe more?"

"…are you kidding me?"

"Look, we were nearly run off the road, I wasn't exactly in the mood to stop and ask for directions while some demon was trying to eat us." He decided to omit the part about Nero possibly bleeding to death. Lady was irate enough.

"You said north?" Lady bit out, clearly changing the subject before they spent the rest of the day arguing.

"Yeah,"

"You sure?"

"Well, don't go quoting me..."

He could practically hear Lady rolling her eyes over the phone. "Trish and I will find you two. Just stay put, unless the Nightshade comes calling."

"I got a bullet with its name on it if the damn thing decides to swing by for a visit. Just get here fast. If it helps, you can always follow the skid marks. I'm sure we left plenty behind."

Dante hung up on whatever Lady was saying next and resisted the urge to shoot the cracked payphone as it ate up his change. But at least they had backup on its way. Hopefully Trish and Lady could catch up before dusk. It was officially morning at that point, but the more time they had to prepare for a live re-enactment of Return of the Demon, the better.

"So," He said casually, flipping back his coat as he looked down at the little blue-eyed demon hiding underneath the old leather. "How about we get some food while we wait?"

-o-o-o-

Nero still wasn't hungry, but any excuse to get away from the creepy old man behind the motel desk had been good enough for him. He'd nodded and refused to look back as Dante led them out of the smelly building after gathering up their duffel bag and towards the highway that cut between the poor excuse of lodging and what looked like a gas station with a diner attached to the side.

However, now that the two of them were seated rather conspicuously in the somewhat empty diner, Nero was having second thoughts. The only other people in the place were all wearing some varying degree of flannel and trucker hats. Most were drinking coffee, but all of them cast a couple odd looks their way. Even the waitress had seemed taken aback, but one easy-going grin from Dante and she seemed to forget about any awkwardness their presence might cause.

It wasn't the people really that put him on edge. It wasn't the fact that he and Dante were sitting in a booth that was right up against the front windows of the diner overlooking the street, giving any passing monsters a clear view of them. It wasn't even the lingering trauma of what happened to them last night. No, what was really bothering him…was the food.

Nero wasn't too much of a picky eater, and though he was used to low-grade food, this was the worst he'd ever tasted. The toast was way too dry, he didn't even like eggs but the ones on his plate looked a little green to him, and he was pretty sure there was something chunky floating around in his milk. But when he'd tried to complain, all Dante did was tell him to quit being a spoiled princess and eat his damn breakfast. Easy for him to say; the older man wasn't eating or drinking anything himself, so he didn't know that it tasted like soggy cardboard.

But even though he was annoyed with Dante, he could plainly see that the man was on edge too. Dante was shifting impatiently in his seat across the table and was constantly casting furtive glances towards the main road out the window. Nero had heard enough of the phone conversation to know that Dante called in Trish and Lady to meet up with them, and was probably anxious for them to get there. The kid had to agree; he'd rather have three kick-butt monster fighters around than just one when the monster after him caught up. After last night, it didn't take a genius to figure out that it would be really, _really_ mad.

Unfortunately, time crawled by mercilessly slow. After picking at his 'breakfast', Nero finally pushed the plate away and didn't complain when the waitress picked up the still nearly full dish and wandered off. Just sitting and waiting was never easy, and Dante, who was never one to pace, had to fight off the urge as he kept roving his eyes from the clock above the counter, to the remaining patrons of the diner and back out the window; each time he made the circuit he expected to see some trace of Lady's bike, but each time he was disappointed and wound up even tighter to see nothing coming from either direction on the road.

The kid sighed and started drumming the fingers of his left hand on the tabletop, the right one instinctively being hidden out of sight in his lap, only pausing occasionally to flick at a few crumbs that were scattered around. The noise drew Dante's attention and while it was mildly irritating, it did remind him at least that he had someone he could try to pass the time with.

"Hey kid, you feeling any better?" he asked curiously, tilting his head when Nero's eyes lifted from the table briefly before going back down.

Nero shrugged and mumbled, "I guess." Which Dante had learned translated into 'no'.

"You probably should've eaten then." He prompted. It was going to be a hell of a long wait if they had to sit here the entire time in tense silence. All he got for that though was another noncommittal shrug. The kid still looked worn out so Dante felt inclined to suggest, "Or you could go ahead and just crash. Naps pass the time when you have nothing else to do." He should know. He was an expert on the subject of napping through the day.

Nero just gave him a dull look and shook his head. "I don't wanna sleep." He proclaimed.

"I guess you wouldn't," Dante said after a moment, rubbing at the back of his neck. He'd briefly forgotten that Nero had chronic nightmares and because of that, an aversion to sleeping. He frowned and shifted in the uncomfortable booth seat, eyes returning to their previous circuit since it seemed like the conversation was pretty much dead. Clock, customers, window; clock, customers, window; clock –

"I have dreams about her."

Dante blinked and looked over at Nero again at the quietly spoken confession. "About who?"

Nero shrugged in that dismissive way again, resuming picking at the edge of the table. "Sometimes…I have dreams about my mom." He didn't sound like he wanted to be talking about it, if the hesitant tone was anything to go by, but the boy continued anyway. He must have found the silence and the waiting as unbearable as Dante then. "I can't really remember her much except when I'm dreaming."

"Really," Dante said neutrally, not sure if that was a good thing or not. He could relate though. When he'd been around the kid's age, he recalled dreaming of the past often. Hell, sometimes he still did.

It hadn't ever made him feel good. Then or now.

"Yeah…mostly about the last time I saw her," namely, when she was killed, "But sometimes I remember before that," Nero's brow furrowed a bit as he seemed to strain himself to recall some of those dreams. "Mostly it's just feelings I remember. I remember being…happy. Then I wake up…" and he remembered she wasn't there anymore and why.

The last went unsaid, but was understood completely as Dante nodded and leaned back in his chair. Apparently nightmares weren't the only reason the kid didn't like falling asleep. It was the most Nero had ever voluntarily given up about himself and it was pretty personal. It made Dante really feel like the kid finally trusted him.

"Best get used to it if you haven't already kid," he said honestly. Nero had been through a lot, but he wasn't so fragile that he couldn't handle the truth. The boy already knew the harsh reality of the world. Basically that it sucked. No reason to sugar-coat it now. "Because that isn't ever going to go away. Not even when the monster that killed her is dead. Trust me."

The kid's face flushed and he quickly tucked his chin down, hiding his expression. "I know… Sometimes I just… wish I didn't remember anything about her at all." He admitted, voice wavering.

Dante sighed and slid out of his side of the booth to walk over and sit next to Nero, draping an arm over the back of the seat. He chose not to make a comment about how Nero instantly leaned against him. Though the kid kept his face downturned, it was obvious he was crying at that point. "Same here, kid." He said quietly. "Same here."

-o-o-o-

It was close to mid-afternoon by the time Lady and Trish showed up. At that point, Dante was leaning against the hood of his car while Nero slept fitfully in the front seat. They'd sat in that horrible diner for as long as they could stand after the boy's less than heart-warming talk about his dead mother, before trying to find something else to while away the hours; which they learned was pretty much impossible. It hadn't helped that they were both constantly wary of being attacked again. Dante wasn't sure who was more irritating when they were bored, him or a seven year old.

He was going to go with the latter since it saved him some pride.

But when Lady's familiar motorcycle pulled off the main road and kicked up dust from where it jerked to a halt next to the red convertible, Dante was willing to forgive the grittiness that coated his face.

Trish hopped off the back of the bike and the first thing she did after straightening out her hair, was walk over to the car and bend down to peer at Nero quietly sleeping. It was actually sad that he was too exhausted to even have nightmares. Dante remembered that not too long ago, the kid was growling and twitching in his bed. Now if he didn't really look to see the kid was breathing, he'd think Nero was dead.

Lady pulled off her helmet and climbed off the bike a moment later and, after getting a look for herself that Nero was in one piece, she turned her mismatched eyes onto Dante. He could tell just by her posture that this wasn't the time to be cracking a joke. And had he been in any other situation right now that would've been his cue to say something cheesy or dumb on purpose. Instead he pushed up from his half reclining position and raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"Well? What's the plan?"

Trish blinked when Lady and Dante both looked at her. "What? You think I'm just full of solutions for every mess you guys get into?" she asked in an offended tone.

Lady brushed off her comment. "The plan is we kill this damn thing before it hurts anyone else."

"That was your plan last time." Which had included using Nero as bait; Dante scoffed, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that didn't work out so well."

"Look, we don't have any other plans." Lady interrupted. "All we know is that the only way to do enough damage to this thing to kill it, we have to throw everything we've got at it while it's at its most vulnerable."

Dante looked around the empty parking lot in the following silence. He was already dreading the answer before he even asked, "Alright, I'll bite, when is it most vulnerable?"

Trish broke in when Lady hesitated to answer.

"When it's feeding." She stated plainly.

"That's great. How are we supposed to catch it when it's feeding?"

Lady looked down at her boots, gripping her helmet tightly with both hands while Trish's blue eyes slid over to the car where Nero was still obliviously sleeping.


End file.
